UC-NRLF 


THROUGH 

CHEROKEE   LANDS. 


REMINISCENCES 


OF 


TRA\'EL  IN 


CHEROKEE   LANDS. 


AN  ADDRESS 


DELIVERED     BEFORE     THE     LADIES'     MISSIONARY 
SOCIETY    OF    THE    ITHACA,    N.    Y.,    CON- 
GREGATIONAL   CHURCH,   1898. 


BY  GEO.  E.  FOSTER. 


ITHACA,  N.  Y, 

DEMOCRAT  PRESS, 

1899. 


PROLOGUE. 


As  I  was  the  first  white  man  to  write  a 
book  devoted  to  showing  the  rise  of  the 
Cherokee  Nation  from  barbarism  to  a  com- 
paratively high  state  of  civiUzation  through 
the  inspiration  and  genius  of  Se-quo-yah, 
their  great  schoolmaster,  prophet  and  chief, 
the  Cherokee  Senate  passed  a  resolution  of 
thanks  for  my  interest  in  tr}dng  to  prove  to 
the  too  incredulous  and  willingly  misled 
American  people,  that  there  could  be  some- 
thing great  and  even  good  in  the  American 
Indian,  and  several  letters  were  forwarded  to 
me  from  the  Cherokee  people  requesting  that 
I  should  visit  them  in  their  homes  and  accept 
their  hospitalities  as  a  Nation. 

These  invitations  were  accepted  for  some 
time  in   the  future,   but  I   must   confess  that 


VI  PROLOGUE. 

my  departure  for  the  Cherokee  capitol  was 
hastened  somewhat  by  the  heartiness  of  a 
renewal  in  the  handwriting  of  Hon.  Wilham 
P.  Boudinot,  who  was  then  Executive  Secre- 
tary of  the  Cherokee  Nation  and  whose  father 
was  the  first  Cherokee  editor. 

"We  do  not  again  ask  you  to  visit  us,"  he 
wrote,  "as  you  have  already  consented  to  do 
so,  Providence  willing,  but  we  expect  you 
pursuant  to  understanding.  Only  give  us  a 
little  time,  please,  not  to  give  us  a  chance  to 
brush  up  for  any  report  that  you  may  wish  to 
make,  but.  so  that  we  can  make  your  visit  as 
pleasant  as  is  possible  on  your  own  account." 

The  warmness  of  the  invitation  touched  a 
responsive  chord  in  my  heart,  and  I  would 
go  at  once,  not  even  waiting  for  the  little 
notice  beforehand.  And  so  I  went.  It  did 
not  take  me  long  to  get  ready,  for  had  I  not 
been  educated  to  the  idea  that  there  was  only 
a  vast  wilderness  before  me  into  which  only 
?.n  elephant  would  carry  a  trunk. 

But  before  my  return  I  learned  a  lesson.  I 
learned  the  possibilities  of  raising  a  people 
from  darkness  into  light.  I  returned  more 
ready  than  ever,  to  take  oft  my  hat  and  bow 


PROLOGUE.  Vll 

with  reverence  to  the  memory  of  good  Queen 
Isabella,  that  queen,  who  had  tenderest  con- 
cern for  the  humane  and  mild  usage  of 
Indians  presided  over  by  her  subjects  in  this 
country,  and  those  laudable  sentiments  were 
adopted  into  the  laws  of  Spain  so  far  as  they 
related  to  America,  and  served  as  the  intro- 
duction to  the  regulations  contained  under 
the  title  ''Good  Government  of  Indians." 
I  returned  also  feeling  more  than  ever  like 
extolling  the  name  of  Ferdinand,  who  op- 
posed all  Dominicans,  who  believed  it  a  waste 
of  time  to  communicate  the  sublime  truths  of 
religion  to  Indians  until  their  spirits  were 
broken  and  their  faculties  impaired  by  oppres- 
sion, and  who  for  religion's  sake  favored  the 
barbarous  treatment  to  the  untutored  children 
of  the  forests.  And,  I  would  again  bow  my 
head  reverently  to  Anne,  the  English  queen, 
whose  reign  was  so  noted  for  its  magnificence ; 
who  notwithstanding  all  her  love  of  splendor, 
took  time  and  pains  to,  and  did  win  the  love 
of  the  combined  Iroquois  nations,  and  so  won 
the  hearts  of  the  chiefs  that  they  wept  when 
they  heard  of  her  death,  and  long  they  remem- 
bered the  kindness  that  she  showed  to  those 


Vm  PROLOGUE. 

Indians  residing  on  the  vast  tract  of  country 
governed  by  her.  Indeed,  on  my  return 
from  the  Nation  Cherokee,  I  felt  prouder  than 
ever,  that  on  the  pages  of  American  history 
stands  the  name  of  Wm.  Penn,  an  honest 
man  in  deaUng  with  all  Indians. 

Let  memory  forever  cherish  the  name  of 
Helen  Hunt  Jackson,  whose  published  works 
have  done  so  much  to  create  in  the  hearts  of 
the  American  people  a  spirit  leading  to  more 
just  treatment  of  an  oppressed  race,  and 
who  by  her  arraignment  of  land-grabbers,  poli- 
ticians and  inhuman  government  officials, 
has  placed  the  cause  of  much  heralded  "In- 
dian barbarities,"  just  where  it  belongs,  viz., 
in  the  barbarity,  greed  and  inhumanity  of  un- 
worthy pale-faces  of  an  alleged  civilized  peo- 
ple. Let  the  names  of  Herbert  Welsh  and 
Mrs.  Quinton,  those  organizers  of  societies  to 
oppose  unjust  legislation  and  to  preserve  the 
rights  of  the  red  men  of  today,  be  ever  treas- 
ured among  those  already  emblazoned  on  the 
tablets  of  enduring  memory  as  true  benefac- 
tors of  the  human  race. 


i^xS^^-^-^k 


THROUGH 

CHEROKEE  LANDS. 


You  are  invited  to  take  a  journey  with  me 
to  the  Cherokee  Nation,  via  St.  Louis,  and 
while  our  train  is  making  the  first  part  of  our 
trip,  we  will,  if  you  please,  use  that  time  in 
getting  acquainted  with  the  Cherokee  Indians 
whom  we  are  about  to  visit, — Who  are  they  ? 
Whence  came  they  ?  How  came  they  in  the 
land  where  they  now  reside  ? 

The  Cherokees  have  been  styled  the 
"Mountaineers  of  Aboriginal  America,"  but 
there  were  two  branches,  called  the  "Upper" 
and  "Lower"  Cherokees,  their  name  having 
sole  reference  to  the  portion  of  country  in 
which  they  lived. 

Not  long  after  America  was  discovered  by 


2      THROUGH  CHEROKEE  LANDS. 

the  white  men,  a  navigator  representing  a  mon- 
arch of  the  British  Isles  sailed  along  the  coast 
opposite  the  lands  which  had  been  discovered 
centuries  before  by  the  Indian  owners  of  the 
country.  This  navigator  never  set  foot  upon 
the  shore  at  all ;  he  simply  looked  upon  the 
land  and  claimed  it  for  Great  Britain  by  right 
of  discovery,  and  from  that  time  on  the  trou- 
bles of  the  Cherokee  Indians  began.  For  it 
is  a  fact,  that  very  long  before  any  white  man 
visited  the  shores  of  North  America  to  the 
southward  and  among  the  mountains  of  Vir- 
ginia, and  in  that  territory  called  South  and 
North  Carolina,  Georgia  and  Tennessee,  there 
dwelt  several  tribes  of  Indians,  having  cus- 
toms and  laws  of  their  own ;  they  were  little 
nations ;  and  of  these  little  nationalities,  the 
Cherokees  were  accounted  one.  The  Chero- 
kees  had  held  possession  of  the  land  so  long 
that  they  could  not  tell  when  hrst  found  by 
the  white  men  whether  they  owned  the  coun- 
try by  right  of  discovery  or  by  conquest. 

But  in  1732  a  monarch  of  several  Isles  on 
the  eastern  coast  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  under 
the  style  and  name  of  George  II.,  King  of 
Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  affected  to  grant  a 


THROUGH  CHEROKEE  LANDS, 


v."> 


great  tract  of  country  belonging  to  Indians 
between  the  26th  and  38th  parallel  of  North 
Latitude,  the  object  being,  so  records  tell  us, 
to  provide  a  home  for  the  poor  of  Great  Brit- 
ain and  Ireland ;  it  was  proposed  for  this  pur- 
pose to  raise  a  fund,  which  should  be  ex- 
pended in  the  conveyance  of  indigent  emi- 
grants to  that  part  of  America  free  of  expense. 
The  plan  was  countenanced  by  '-humane  and 
opulent  men,"  and  on  June  9th,  1732,  King 
George  II.  granted  to  these  Britain  and  Ire- 
land paupers  the  land  of  several  sovereign 
Indian  nations. 

The  lower  Indians,  who  were  lower  in  intel- 
lect than  the  upper  Cherokees  who  dwelt 
among  the  mountains,  insisted  that  the  Chero- 
kees originally  came  out  of  a  hole  in  the 
ground,  but  as  they  found  no  hole  in  the  terri- 
tory that  they  then  possessed,  they  thought  it 
must  have  been  located  west  of  a  big  river 
which  was  the  Mississippi.  They  had  a  tra- 
dition that  they  came  over  the  river  on  a 
grapevine  bridge.* 


*Now,  by  way  of  parenthesis  let  me  say,  that  a 
grapevine  is  a  great  institution  in  the  Indian  coun- 
try.    The  children  use  them  for  swings  ;  the  In- 


4      THROUGH  CHEROKEE  LANDS. 

I  used  to  think  that  the  lower  Cherokees' 
beUef  that  they  first  sprung  from  a  hole  in  the 
ground  was  very  stupid  on  their  part.  But 
having  been  taught  no  other  way,  as  Indians 
always  do,  they  took  Nature  as  a  text  book. 
They  would  go  out  in  the  morning,  and  look- 
ing on  the  ground,  where  there  had  been  noth- 
ing visible  the  night  before,  would  behold 
scores  of  little  ant-hills  from  which  thousands 
of  little  ants  were  swarming,  and  it  was  from 
them   they   obtained   the    idea  that  by  some 


dian  women  use  them  for  clothes  lines  ;  and  they 
are  often  used  as  a  bridge.  Firstly,  just  think  of 
an  Indian  girl  walking  over  a  wide  stream  on  a 
grapevine,  which  had  a  diameter  of  less  than  four 
inches.  And  then  secondly,  just  think  of  a  white 
man  attempting  to  walk  over  that  same  vine.  I 
tried  it  once  when  a  little  Cherokee  girl  took  me 
out  walking.  She  went  over  as  easy  as  you  would 
walk  up  a  city's  widest  and  best  sidewalk  ;  but 
when  I  tried  it,  I,  who  went  out  there  into  the 
woods  as  a  visitor  from  undoubted  civilization, — 
well,  if  I  must  admit  it,  I  will ;  the  little  barbarian 
just  laughed,  and  I  found  it  very  mortifying  for  a 
male  representative  of  civilization  to  be  laughed  at 
by  an  Indian  young  lady  just  because  he  could  not 
walk  over  a  grapevine  bridge  as  quickly  and  grace- 
fully and  safely  as  she  could. 


THROUGH  CHEROKEE  LANDS.      5 

such  outpouring,  their  forefathers  had  been 
allowed  by  the  Great  Spirit  to  people  the  land. 

But  the  upper  Cherokees,  those  that  in  his- 
tory have  been  styled  the  "Mountaineers  of 
Aboriginal  America,"  had  a  higher  idea  of 
their  origin.     It  is  in  substance  as  follows  : 

*In  the  time  Nu-ta-te-qua,  or  the  first  new 
moon  of  Autumn,  U-ha-li-te-qua,  the  great- 
great,  or  the  head  of  all  power,  great  beyond 
expression,  having  also  A-ta-no-ti  and  U-sqa- 
hu-la,  two  other  beings  of  like  sentiment  and 
action,  in  the  Great  Council  House  above  the 
gilt-edged  clouds  beyond  the  mountains,  sat 
on  three  seats,  which  were  covered  with  the 
purest  white  fur,  and  surrounded  with  trusty 
spirits.  These  three  were  the  proprietors  of 
all  things  that  then  were,  for  all  that  then  was 
by  them  had  been  constructed.  They  were 
indeed  the  great-great,  for  when  U-ha-li-te-qua, 
A-ta-no-ti  and  U-sqa-hu-la  said  "live,"  life 
came  ;  when  they  said  "die"  death  followed. 

But  at  this  time,  they  were  discussing  where 
to  fix  their  permanent  abode  and  they  con- 
cluded to  first  finish  their  work  of  creation. 


*A  Buttrick  Antiquity. 


6      THROUGH  CHEROKEE  LANDS. 

The  first  firmament  which  they  created  was 
somewhat  higher  than  a  mountain,  but  it 
proved  too  narrow  and  too  warm  and  not  high 
enough  to  behold  all  their  subjects.  Then 
U-ha-li-te-qua,  A-ta-no-ti  and  U-sqa-hu-la  built 
a  second  firmament  that  also  proved  too  small 
and  warm,  but  as  it  proved  more  comfortable 
than  the  first,  they  decided  to  keep  on  build- 
ing firmaments  until  they  should  find  one  just 
right.  They  did  so,  and  in  the  seventh  they 
decided  to  make  their  home.  Then  U-ha-li- 
te-qua,  A-ta-no-ti  and  U-sqa-hu-la  became  ab- 
sorbed into  one  being  as  they  had  been  before 
in  sentiment  and  action. 

This  being  was  called  Ye-ho-wa. 

The  early  Cherokees  believed  him  to  be 
both  man  and  Spirit,  a  very  glorious  being, 
whose  name  was  never  to  be  spoken  in  com- 
mon talk.  To  him  bowing  toward  the  East 
they  addressed  their  prayers,  just  before  the 
rising  sun. 

Within  the  first  firmament,  Ye-ho-wa  created 
the  earth  and  in  it  he  made  a  beautiful  gar- 
den. And  it  came  to  pass  that  Ye-ho-wa  and 
his  son — for  the  earliest  Cherokees  say  he  had 
a  son — decided  to  people  the  earth,  and  the 


THROUGH  CHEROKEE  LANDS.      7 

time  was  Nu-ta-te-qua  or  Autumn,  when  the 
fruits  were  all  ripe. 

Then  Ye-ho-wa  sent  his  son  to  manage  the 
affairs  of  earth,  and  he  descended  to  the  gar- 
den and  made  two  images  out  of  clay,  and 
when  he  had  completed  them,  his  father,  Ye- 
ho-wa,  breathed  into  the  bodies,  a  soul,  heart 
and  inwards,  and  one  became  a  male  and  the 
other  a  female.  The  clay  of  which  they  were 
made  was  red ;  hence  this  man  and  woman 
were  the  progenitors  of  the  red  race. 

It  seems  to  have  been  a  fact  that  the  In- 
dians gave  what  we  may  call  a  local  color  to 
their  descriptions  of  their  hells.  I  never 
understood  why  the  Southern  Indian  always 
punished  the  souls  of  their  wicked  dead  with 
fires  of  burning  pitch,  until  I  visited  their  old 
stamping  grounds,  the  turpentine  forests  of 
the  South.  Nothing  earthly  is  much  hotter 
than  burning  pitch.  I  never  understood  why 
the  mountain  Cherokees  so  often  had  the 
accursed  souls  of  their  dead  transfixed  on 
sharp  stakes,  in  dark  and  deep  abysses,  until 
I  myself  stood  beside  those  deep  mountain 
crevices  and  looked  tremblingly  over  on  the 
uplifting  sharp  spines  of  broken  trees,  which 


8      THROUGH  CHEROKEE  LANDS. 

were  reaching  up  to  pierce  through  any  vic- 
tim that  might  chance  to  fall  into  the  gulf 
below. 

I  have  wondered  sometimes  how  it  came  to 
pass  that  the  Indians  have  a  tradition  of  a 
hell  in  which  the  victims  are  tormented  by 
blades  of  sharpened  steel.  I  have  thought, 
but  do  not  know,  that  this  tradition  is  not 
older  than  the  time  when  white  men  began  to 
drive  by  the  point  of  the  bayonet  the  Indians 
from  their  homes  that  they  loved  so  well  and 
the  graves  of  their  fathers. 

When  first  discovered  by  the  white  men, 
the  Cherokees  were  a  religious  people,  though 
they  were  not  religious  according  to  white 
men's  lights,  but  were  religious  notwithstand- 
ing. They  were  not  idolaters,  for  I  have 
never  found  a  proven  statement  that  they 
worshipped  idols.  They  had  a  story  of  the 
Genesis  not  unlike  that  of  the  white  men's 
Bible.  This,  I  think  can  be  traced  to  the 
influence  of  the  Spaniard,  Cabeca.  He 
taught  the  Southern  Indians  the  story  of  the 
Genesis,  and  it  was  handed  down  by  the 
story-tellers  of  various  tribes. 

Wassi  was  he  who  warned   the   Cherokees 


THROUGH   CHEROKEE   LANDS.  9 

of  a  coming  flood ;  he  was  a  prophet  who 
foretold  events.  The  enchanted  mountain  in 
Union  County,  Georgia,  was  the  Ararat  of  the 
Cherokees.  Santa  Rosa  Mountain  was  the 
Ararat  of  the  Pimas,  which  was  another  tribe 
in  the  South.  The  eagle  warned  the  Pimas' 
prophet  of  the  approaching  flood  and  advised 
him  to  prepare  for  it.  The  warning  came 
three  times,  and  suddenly,  the  winds  arose 
and  the  rain  descended  in  torrents ;  the 
thunder  and  lightning  were  terrific,  and  dark- 
ness covered  the  world.  Everything  on  earth 
was  destroyed,  and  all  Pimas  perished  except 
one  chief,  "So  Ho,"  a  good  and  brave  Indian, 
who  was  saved  by  special  interposition  of  the 
Great  Spirit.  In  his  canoe,  surrounded  by 
his  family  and  animals,  he  weathered  the 
storm  and,  when  the  waters  subsided,  he 
found  himself  on  the  mountain  of  Santa  Rosa. 
The  Cherokee  Noah  escaped  with  various 
animals  and  in  a  canoe  drawn  by  a  bevy  of 
very  beautiful  swans  he  at  last  landed  on  the 
enchanted  mountain  in  Georgia.* 

*The  Choctaws  were  neighbors  of  the  Cherokees 
and  their  tradition  of  the  flood  was  as  follows  : 
"At  a  very  remote  period,  there  was  a  great  deluge, 


lO     THROUGH  CHEROKEE  LANDS. 

Gladly  would  we    linger    on    the    beautiful 
traditions  of  the  Cherokees.  but  time  forbids. 


which  spread  over  the  whole  earth.  It  was  pre- 
ceded by  a  preternatural  darkness,  the  people 
went  to  sleep  at  the  commencement  of  this  dark- 
ness as  usual,  and  after  sleeping  the  usual  time 
they  awoke  and  found  it  still  dark.  They  awoke 
again  and  found  it  still  dark.  Again  they  slept, 
and  awoke  and  darkness  was  on  the  face  of  the 
earth.  This  excited  alarm.  The  darkness  was  so 
great,  that  neighbors  could  have  no  intercourse 
with  each  other  except  by  torch  light.  After  some 
time  they  discovered,  as  they  thought,  the  dawn- 
ing of  the  day  in  the  east.  This  occasioned  great 
joy,  and  they  went  from  house  to  house  to  con- 
gratulate each  other  on  the  return  of  light.  But 
they  were  soon  undeceived  ;  for  what  they  had 
supposed  to  be  light  proved  to  be  a  great  body  of 
water,  like  the  sea,  which,  coming  with  great 
velocity,  swept  away  all  before  it.  Some  few,  who 
were  on  more  elevated  situations  succeeded  in 
making  rafts  and  getting  upon  them,  but  the 
beavers  gnawed  off  the  bark,  by  which  the  logs  of 
the  raft  were  tied  together,  and  thus,  after  having 
their  hopes  raised  by  escaping  the  destruction 
which  was  all  around  them,  they  were  plunged 
into  the  water  and  irretrievably  lost.  One  raft, 
however,  made  of  reeds,  escaped  the  ravages  of 
the  beavers,  and  out-rode  the  storm,  and  all  who 
were  on  it  were  saved  ;  but  the  number  is  not 
known. 


THROUGH  CHEROKEE  LANDS.     I  I 

I  have  already  spoken  of  the  part  an  eagle 
took  in  the  foretelling  events,  which  calls  to 
mind  the  first  known  political  convention 
between  the  Cherokees  and  the  English 
people. 

It  was  in  one  of  the  mother  towns  in  1730, 
that  the  Cherokees  made  their  first  alliance 
with  the  English.  It  was  brought  about  by 
one  Alexander  Gumming,  who  had  traveled 
extensively  among  the  Southern  Indians. 
Just  how  he  won  over  the  Indians  to  his  pro- 
ject is  misty  history,  but  on  the  day  when  the 
Cherokees  swore  allegiance  to  Great  Britain, 
there  was  a  mighty  gathering  of  Cherokees  in 
one  of  the  mother  towns,  and  at  last  they 
seated  Sir  Alexander  Gumming  on  a  stump 
that  was  well  covered  with  fur,  and  then,  with 
the  same  number  of  eagles'  tails  as  there  are 
stripes  today  on  the  American  iiag,  they  began 
to  stroke  Sir  Alexander,  and  their  singers 
sang  about  him  from  morning  to  night,  when 
all  the  warriors  of  the  Cherokees  bowed  on 
their  knees  and  declared  themselves  to  be 
dutiful  subjects  of  King  George,  and  called 
upon  all  that  was  terrible  and  that  they  might 


12  THROUGH   CHEROKEE   LANDS. 

become  as   no   people,    if   they   in    any   way 
violated  their  promise  of  obedience. 

Now  this  marching,  and  this  stroking  Sir 
Alexander  Gumming  with  those  thirteen 
eagles'  tails,  I  am  convinced  was  the  first  ap- 
pearance of  the  American  eagle  in  politics  in 
America,  notwithstanding  the  historians  say, 
that  it  was  not  in  1730,  but  in  1785,  that  the 
American  eagle  became  our  national  emblem. 


II. 


With  the  turning  of  this  leaf,  a  hundred  and 
six  years  have  passed  away  since  the  Chero- 
kees  made  their  first  alHance  with  the  EngUsh. 
Much  has  happened :  England  has  now  no 
part  in  American  politics.  The  Cherokees 
have  been  visited  by  the  missionaries.  God 
has  raised  up  from  one  of  their  number  an 
earthly  Saviour,  Se-quo-yah.  He  had  invented 
the  most  wonderful  alphabet  that  this  world 
has  known.  The  Bible  had  been  translated 
into  it.  The  Cherokees  had  good  homes, 
schools  and  churches.  The  work  of  mission- 
aries had  truly  blest.  By  their  state  of  civili- 
zation the  Cherokees  were  styled  a  nation,  and 
our  good  old  friend,  Rev.  Samuel  A.  Worces- 
ter, whom  I  told  you  about  last  year,  was  one 
of  their  number.  Gold  had  been  found  in 
Cherokee  lands,  and  the  tribe  was  in  the  way 
of    the    ever  encroaching  white    men, — white 


14  THROUGH   CHEROKEE   LANDS. 

men,  who  from  the  first  settlement  of  America, 
have  seen  no  place  for  red-men,  the  rightful 
owners  of  the  soil,  but  have  willingly  given 
homes  to  the  often  criminal  emigrants  of  for- 
eign lands.  By  laws  passed  the  Indians  were 
forbidden  to  dig  for  gold  on  their  own  land 
and  then  that  terrible  law  was  decreed  by  the 
white  men  that  no  Indian,  or  descendant  of 
an  Indian,  residing  within  the  Cherokee  na- 
tion should  be  deemed  a  competent  witness  to 
any  suit  in  any  court  where  a  white  man  was 
a  defendant.  This  is  only  one  specimen  of 
the  laws  passed  to  throw  the  Indians  into  the 
greatest  confusion  in  order  that  they  might  be 
more  easily  overcome,  destroyed  or  forced 
from  the  land  of  their  nativity. 

Now  I  wish  right  here  to  sum  up  in  six 
propositions,  what  might  make  an  equal  num- 
ber of  long  chapters. 

First ;  We  have  shown  that  the  Cherokees 
were  a  happy  people,  who  were  living  on  the 
lands  which  seemingly  had  been  deeded  to 
them  by  Almighty  God,  and  they  were  becom- 
ing civilized. 

Second  ;  Feeling  the  germs  of  civilization 
sprouting  in  their  breasts,  they  paralyzed  the 


THROUGH    CHEROKEE   LANDS.  1 5 

white  men  by  deciding  to  organize  a  govern- 
ment of  their  own  on  a  civilized  plan. 

Third  ;  The  white  men  who  had  appropri- 
ated the  Indian  lands  made  it  a  law,  that  no 
separate  nation  could  be  allowed  to  be  formed 
within  the  boundaries  of  the  State. 

Fourth ;  The  white  men  drew  a  state  line 
around  the  budding  Cherokee  Nation. 

Fifth  :  They  forbid  the  Indians  from  digging 
gold  on  their  own  lands,  thus  making  it  of  lit- 
tle value  to  them. 

Sixth ;  Then  they  made  that  infamous  law 
just  quoted  forbidding  Indians  from  being 
witnesses  or  complainants  in  any  court  where 
a  white  man  was  a  defendant,  and  then  having 
made  their  land  of  little  value  to  them ;  and 
having  made  their  hope  of  home-government 
impossible  and  having  made  laws  so  cruel 
that  they  could  not  live  under  them,  what 
next  did  the  white  men  of  a  so-called  christian 
civilization  do  ?  I  will  tell  you  what  they  did. 
They  bribed  some  of  the  Cherokees  to  barter 
their  country  for  gold,  and  the  United  States 
sanctioned  the  unlawful  sale  by  the  minority 
in  spite  of  a  most  pathetic  appeal  of  the  ma- 


1 6     THROUGH  CHEROKEE  LANDS. 

jority."*     They  then  in  exchange  gave  to  the 


*The  following  is  the  text  of  this  appeal,  which, 
probably  designedly,  is  left  out  of  modern 
histories  : 

"By  the  stipulation  of  this  instrument,  (the 
treaty  of  New  Echota  [1836]  ),  we  are  despoiled  of 
our  private  possessions  ;  we  are  stripped  of  every 
attribute  of  freedom  and  eligibility  for  legal  de- 
fense. Our  property  may  be  plundered  before  our 
eyes.  Violence  may  be  committed  upon  our  per- 
sons ;  even  our  lives  may  be  taken  away  and  there 
are  none  to  regard  our  complaint.  We  are  dena- 
tionalized !  We  are  disfranchised  !  We  are  de- 
prived of  membership  with  human  family  !  We 
have  neither  land  nor  home  nor  resting  place  to 
call  our  own,  and  this  is  effected  by  the  provisions 
of  a  compact,  which  assumes  the  venerated,  the 
sacred  appellation  of  "treaty."  We  are  over- 
whelmed !  Our  hearts  are  sickened  !  Our  utter- 
ance is  paralj'zed,  when  we  reflect  on  the  condi- 
tion in  which  we  are  placed  by  unprincipled  men, 
who  have  managed  their  stratagems  with  such 
dexterity  as  to  impose  on  the  Government  of  the 
United  States,  in  the  face  of  our  earnest,  solemn 
and  re-iterated  protestations.  This  instrument  in 
question  is  not  the  act  of  our  Nation,  We  are  not 
parties  to  its  covenants.  It  has  not  received  the 
sanction  of  our  people.  The  makers  of  it  sustain 
no  office  or  appointment  in  our  Nation  under  the 
designation  of  chiefs,  headsmen   or   any   title   by 


THROUGH  CHEROKEE  LANDS.     1 7 

Indians  a  tract  of  land  which  the  Government 
supposed  was  worthless,  and  believed  it  was 
so  far  outside  of  creation  that  the  Cherokee 
would  be  forever  removed  from  the  path  of 
the  white  man.  And  right  here  I  wish  to  say, 
that  that  dear  Christian  missionary,  Rev.  Sam- 
uel A.  Worcester,  whom  I  told  you  about  one 


which  they  hold  or  could  acquire  authority  to  as- 
sume the  reins  of  government,  and  to  make,  bar- 
gain and  sale  of  our  common  country.  We  are 
indeed  an  afflicted  people  !  Our  spirits  are  sub- 
dued !  Despair  has  well  nigh  seized  our  energies  ! 
But  we  speak  to  the  representatives  of  a  Christian 
country,  the  friends  of  justice,  the  patrons  of  the 
oppressed,  and  our  prospects  brighten  as  we  in- 
dulge the  thought  that  on  your  sentence  our  fate  is 
suspended.  Prosperity  or  desolation  depends  upon 
your  word.  To  you  therefore  we  look  !  Before 
your  august  assembly  we  present  ourselves  in  the 
attributes  of  depreciation,  and  of  entreaty.  On 
your  kindness,  on  your  judgment,  on  your  human- 
ity, on  your  compassion,  on  your  benevolence 
we  rest  our  hopes.  To  you  we  address  our  re- 
iterated prayers.  Spare  our  people  !  Spare  the 
wreck  of  our  prosperity  !  Let  not  our  deserted 
homes  become  the  monuments  of  desolation.  We 
suppress  the  agonies  which  wring  our  hearts,  when 
we  look  at  our  wives,  our  children  and  our  venera- 
ble sires.     We  restrain  our  forebodings  of  anguish 


l8     THROUGH  CHEROKEE  LANDS. 

year  ago,  was  with  other  missionaries  thrown 
into  prison  where  they  were  kept  a  long  time 
because  they  rightfully  stood  by  the  Chero- 
kees  in  their  time  of  trouble. 

Well,  you  say,  "what  next  ?"  I  will  tell  you 
what  happened  next.  Having  made  the  illegal 
trade  they  ordered  the  Indians  to  leave  the 
homes  they  had  builded  and  go  to  the  far  off 
and  untried  wilderness.*     But  many  refused 

and  distress,  of  misery  and  devastation  and  death 
which  must  be  the  attendance  on  the  execution  of 
this  ruinous  compact." 

Such  an  appeal  as  that  ought  to  have  melted  a 
heart  of  stone.  But  how  was  it  met  by  the  United 
States  ?  On  Nov.  3,  1836,  the  Secretary  of  the  War 
Department  answered  these  anxious  Cherokees  as 
follows  : 

"I  am  instructed  by  the  President  of  the  United 
States  to  sa}-  that  no  delegation  that  may  be  sent 
to  Washington  with  a  view  of  obtaining  new  terms, 
or  a  modification  of  the  existing  treaty,  will  be  re- 
ceived or  recognized,  nor  will  any  intercourse  be 
held  with  them  directly  or  indirectly  or  in 
-writings. ' ' 

*The  author  has  before  him  a  personal  letter 
written  from  one  connected  with  a  missionary  sta- 
tion in  the  old  Cherokee  county.  Under  date  of 
June,  1838,  he  wrote:  "That  time  specified  in  the 
fraudulent  treaty  for  the  removal  of  the  Cherokees 


THROUGH    CHEROKEE    LANDS.  I9 

to  go,  and  then  one  spring  morning  in  1838 
there  came  from  all  sides  of  the  old  Cherokee 
land  except  the  westward  the  tramp,  tramp, 
tramp  of  United  States  troops,  and  at  the 
point  of  the  bayonet  sixteen  thousand  Chero- 


and  the  memorials  from  various  parts  of  the  United 
States  presented  to  Congress  have  been  disre- 
garded, and  the  only  future  seems  to  be  they  must 
now  be  forced  from  their  peaceful  homes  and  fire- 
sides to  a  land  where  there  is  not  a  sufficient  scope 
for  such  a  company.  Indeed  were  you  here  and 
did  you  know  the  true  facts,  you  nor  any  other 
man  who  is  not  destitute  of  human  feelings  could 
refrain  from  weeping  for  the  afflicted  hosts.  There 
is  now  a  large  military  force  in  the  country,  com- 
manded by  Gen.  Scott,  for  the  purpose  of  collect- 
ing the  Cherokees  and  transporting  them  to  the 
west.  Indeed  they  have  already  commenced  this 
wicked  act,  while  at  the  same  time  the  principal 
chief  of  the  Nation,  and  others  with  him,  are  at 
the  seat  of  Government  praying  Congress  to  desist 
from  such  fraudulent  measures,  but  I  fear  to  no 
purpose,  for  some  have  already  been  taken  from 
their  houses,  leaving  all  their  property  to  the  rule 
of  their  enemies,  and  thus  like  sheep  to  some  place 
of  embarkation.  O,  the  awful  guilt  and  stain  on 
our  American  Government.  The  society  of  the 
Cherokees  is  far  preferable  to  that  of  most  of  those 
who  have  come  into  this  country  to  settle. 


20     THROUGH  CHEROKEE  LANDS. 

kee  Indians  were  gathered  into  four  great 
herds,  like  so  many  cattle.  Then  came  the 
long  and  terrible  march  across  the  country 
and  in  the  six  months'  time,  four  thousand  of 
the  forced  emigration  died  of  sickness  caused 
by  hardships  and  broken  hearts. 

Perhaps  you  remember  about  the  Indian 
woman  in  that  lowly  cabin  which  I  told  you 
about  one  year  ago  1*  I  mean  her,  who  in 
the  rude  sticks  that  held  up  the  decaying  tim- 
bers of  her  hut  was  so  happy  and  content  that 
she  could  compare  them  to  the  more  stately 
pillars  of  a  council  house ;  I  mean  her  whose 
life  was  devoted  to  caring  for  others  poorer 
than  herself ;  I  mean  her  who  was  the  great 
aunt  of  the  little  Cherokee  maiden  whose 
dreams  gave  to  the  Cherokee  people  their  first 
sacred  hymn.  Well  as  I  sat  in  her  lowly 
cabin,  just  as  I  told  you  about  last  year,  I 
asked  her  if  she  remembered  that  terrible 
march  across  the  country.  "Yes,  oh  yes," 
she  said,  "I  was  weel  young  then,  but  I  often 
wondered  on  the  way  why  my  people  never 
ceased  to  weep." 


^Story  of  the  Cherokee  Bible,  page  40. 


THROUGH  CHEROKEE  LANDS.     21 

I  think  I  hear  some  one  say  that  the  Chris- 
tian Government  of  the  United  States  would 
not  use  such  means  today  to  get  the  Indian 
lands.     But  here  we  must  differ  in  opinion. 


Ill, 


Fifty  years  more  pass  and  civilization 
reaches  the  land  which  in  1836  had  been 
deeded  to  the  Indians  in  exchange  for  the  old 
Cherokee  country.  The  white  men  wanted 
their  land  once  more. 

A  few  years  ago  when  I  was  in  the  Chero- 
kee Nation  at  a  time  when  at  Washington  the 
orators  were  trying  to  convince  the  world  that 
the  Cherokees  had  no  right  to  their  western 
land,  as  a  special  favor  the  treasurer  of  the 
Cherokee  Nation  with  the  consent  of  the 
Chief  opened  the  great  safe  in  the  Cherokee 
Council  House.  He  took  out  a  metallic  tube, 
and  having  uncapped  the  same,  he  drew  forth 
a  parchment  gaily  trimmed  with  eagle 
feathers.  It  was  the  deed  of  their  land  as  it 
was  given  by  the  United  States  Government. 
I  read  that  deed.  I  saw  the  signature  of  the 
President  of  the  United  States  and  others  in 


THROUGH   CHEROKEE   LANDS.  23 

authority.  It  was  as  strong  a  deed  as  it  was 
possible  for  the  United  States  to  give,  and 
then  in  their  joy  at  having  at  what  they  sup- 
posed to  be  the  best  of  the  bargain,  and  per- 
haps to  make  the  deed  more  pleasing  to  the 
Cherokees,  they  trimmed  the  parchment  with 
eagles'  feathers. 

Many  of  us  have  read  how  the  Cherokees 
sold  to  the  United  States  the  famous  Cherokee 
strip.  We  have  read  the  Government  reports 
of  the  amicable  trade  with  the  Indians ;  even 
ministers  of  the  Gospel  have  unwittingly 
thanked  God  in  their  pulpits  that  the  question 
\vas  settled  in  such  a  Christian  manner. 
Was  it  ? 

How  little  the  people  in  general  know  of 
the  real  meaning  of  many  acts  of  Congress. 
It  had  turned  out  that  the  land  deeded  to  the 
Indians  was  better  than  the  white  men 
thought  when  they  traded  it  to  the  Cherokees 
prior  to  1838.  It  turned  out  that  it  became 
an  eyesore  for  the  land-grabber,  and  the  paid 
politicians.  This  territory  had  become  very 
v^aluable  to  the  Cherokees  as  they  rented  it  to 
the  white  men  for  grazing  purposes,  and  they 
received  for  rental  the  sum  of  over  two   hun- 


24     THROUGH  CHEROKEE  LANDS. 

dred  thousand  dollars  yearly,  and  with  that 
money  the  Cherokees  maintained  their  gov- 
ernment, two  colleges  and  over  a  hundred 
schools,  asking  no  help  from  the  United 
States.  In  fact  the  Cherokees  were  at  last  a 
prosperous  people.  There  was  much  to  say 
in  their  favor,  and  about  the  only  thing,  in 
the  land-grabbers'  minds,  that  could  be  said 
against  them  was  that  they  owned  the  land 
and  had  a  deed  of  it. 

Of  course  the  Cherokees  saw  the  value  of 
the  property  that  gave  them  an  income  that 
supported  their  Government  and  schools  and 
a  surplus  that  they  divided  per  capita  every 
tw^o  years.  Why  should  they  sell  the  Chero- 
kee strip  ?  Yet  they  sold  it.  The  only  way 
the  members  of  Congress  saw  to  get  the  land 
was  to  make  it  worthless,  and  this  they  did  so 
far  as  the  Indians  were  concerned.  And  it 
was  done  in  this  way ;  a  bill  was  one  day 
sprung  upon  Congress,  accompanied  with 
seductive  speeches  to  the  effect  that  no 
Indian  should  be  permitted  to  rent  his  land 
for  grazing  purposes.  Shame  be  it  to  our 
country !  It  became  a  law  that  no  Indian 
could  rent  the  land  he  owned  for  grazing,  and 


THROUGH  CHEROKEE  LANDS.     25 

thus  the  land  of  many  an  Indian  had  for  him 
no  value.  What  next  ?  The  land-grabbing 
politician  began  to  send  delegations  to  treat 
with  the  Cherokees  for  the  lands  which  were 
still  valuable  for  the  white  men  although  they 
had  been  made  so  worthless  to  the  Cherokee. 
These  delegations  endeavored  to  frighten  the 
Indians  by  hinting  that  if  they  did  not  take 
the  price  offered,  which  was  but  a  pittance  of 
what  these  lands  were  worth  to  the  white 
men.  that  the  deed  which  the  United  States 
had  executed  might  be  found  to  be  null  and 
void,  and  that  they  consequently  might  lose 
their  land  and  the  offered  money  as  well,  and 
so.  the  Cherokees  yielded.  And  this  is  how 
the  land-grab  was  "amicably  settled"  by  the 
Government  of  the  United  States. 

My  friends,  a  visitor  to  any  fair  city  or 
land  can  see  the  good  side,  or  the  bad  side, 
and  so  report ;  they  can  tell  of  our  homes,  our 
educational  institutions  and  of  our  peaceful 
home  life,  or  if  they  choose,  they  can  report 
on  slums,  and  people  of  low  estate.  I  found 
that  which  was  bad  in  the  Indian  Territory 
and  I  found  much  that  was  good.  Which  is 
the  best  way,  when  we  speak  of  a  people  to 


26     THROUGH  CHEROKEE  LANDS. 

make  the  bad  prominent,  or  speak  of  the  good 
and  true  of  a  people's  struggle  to  elevate 
rather  than  a  tendency  to  degrade  themselves. 
I  believe  it  is  far  more  important  if  we  work 
for  God  and  civilization  to  show  what  mission 
work  has  done  for  humanity  rather  than  to 
show  what  it  has  not  accomplished. 


IV. 


Having  passed  over  the  trail  of  death  lead- 
ing from  the  old  Cherokee  Nation  to  the  new, 
we  pass  into  the  Indian  Territory  as  it  is 
today.  Soon  we  are  at  the  banks  of  a  river, 
or  where  three  rivers  flow  side  by  side  in  a 
single  channel,  the  waters  of  the  one  muddy, 
the  other  blue,  and  the  third  red.  The  waters 
flow  on  side  by  side  unmingled  as  far  as  the 
eye  can  reach.  Two  Indians  take  us  over  the 
ferry  and  we  are  indeed  in  the  Indian  coun- 
tr\-.  We  climb  into  a  wagon  of  doubtful  form, 
and    by    mule    power*    we    will    journey    on. 

*One  day  while  riding  behind  a  pair  of  what 
seemed  to  be  particularly  vicious  mules,  I  noted 
the  peculiar  ball  of  hair  at  the  extremity  of  their 
tails.  Naturally  I  asked  the  why  of  it.  "Mules 
will  kick,"  said  the  Creek  Indian  driver,  "until 
we  teach  them  not  to.  We  first  tie  a  stone  attached 
to  a  rope  to  their  tails,  and  let  them  kick.  They 
naturally  look  around  to  see  what  they  have   hit, 


28  THROUGH    CHEROKKK    LANDS. 

Beautiful  indeed  were  the  flowers  on  either 
side,  and  butterflies  of  gorgeous  colors  and  in 
great  numbers  flitted  in  the  glorious  sunshine. 
A  butterfly  of  unusually  bright  dress  for  some 
time  flitted  by  our  carriage.  The  Indian 
driver  looked  joyfully  at  it  for  a  while  and 
then  asked  me  if  I  had  ever  heard  the  legend 
of  the  sun's  daughter.  I  replied  in  the  nega- 
tive. "It  is  an  old  tradition  among  us,"  he 
said,  "that  in  the  beginning,  a  great  number 
of  beings  were  employed  in  constructing  the 
sun,  which  planet  was  made  first.  It  was  the 
intention  of  the  Great  Spirit,  that  men  should 
live  always,  but  the  sun  having  surveyed  the 
land,  and  finding  an  insufficiency  for  their 
support,  changed  the  design,  and  arranged 
that  all  men  should  die.  The  daughter  of  the 
sun   was  the   first  to   suffer  under  the  law,  as 


and  when  they  see  the  suspended  stone  they  kick 
again  ;  they  of  course  hit  the  stone  and  again  look 
back,  and  seeing  it  <*wing  back  and  forth  they  con- 
tinue to  kick  until  they  are  sick  of  it.  After  that, 
we  dress  the  mule's  tail  as  you  see,  and  that  bunch 
of  hair  is  a  reminder  to  the  mules  as  they  look 
around,  of  their  experience  with  the  stone,  and 
they  never  afterward  kick  so  long  as  they  are  thus 
ornamented." 


THROUGH    CHEROKEE   LANDS.  29 

she  was  bitten  by  a  serpent  and  died.  There- 
upon, the  sun  decreed  that  men  should  hve 
always.  He  then  commissioned  a  few  persons 
to  seek  the  spirit  of  his  daughter,  which  had 
taken  the  form  of  a  beautiful  butterfly,  and  to 
return  it  encased  in  a  box.  The  search  for 
the  spirit  was  a  long  one,  but,  at  last,  the 
searchers  found  it  hovering  over  a  cluster  of 
Cherokee  roses.  They  started  in  pursuit,  but 
her  spirit  coyly  led  them  a  long  race  through 
fields,  dells  and  rocky  fastnesses,  but  they 
wearied  her  out  at  last,  and  shut  her  in  the 
box.  But  in  their  voyage  home  one  of  the 
part}'  desired  to  see  her  again,  and  peeped 
into  the  box.  She  quickly  escaped  and  be- 
came invisible  to  them.  Immortality  fled, 
and  since  then  it  has  been  decreed  that  all 
men  must  die." 


V. 


A  Sabbath  morn  has  dawned  upon  a  charm- 
ing, flower-decked  prairie.  All  is  quiet,  peace- 
ful, restful.  The  sunrise  is  such  as  would 
thrill  an  artist's  soul  and  give  inspiration  for 
his  finest  work — and  later,  had  there  been  a 
tree  to  mark  by  its  shadow  the  time,  it  would 
have  been  half-past  the  hour  of  nine.  What 
is  it  that  I  see  speeding  toward  us  far  off  over 
the  prairie  ?  What  is  that  over  there  ?  What 
is  that  to  the  east ;  to  the  north  and  south  ? 
What  there  ?  What  here  ?  What  yonder  ? 
They  are  Indian  ponies,  surely,  and  can  it 
be  ? — On  the  back  of  each  Indian  pony  sits  an 
Indian  maiden  ;  picturesque  indeed  !  Note 
their  wide  rimmed  hats  covering  jetty  locks 
and  the  red  cloaks  floating  gracefully  from 
their  shoulders,  as  with  wondrous  speed  the 
ponies  pace  the  prairie.  How  soon  they  all 
pass  us  with  nod  and  smile.     Whence  go  they 


THROUGH  CHEROKEE  LANDS.     3I 

all  ?  Yonder  we  see  a  Mission  Church,  placed 
there  by  the  earnest  work  of  Ladies'  Mission- 
ary Societies  in  the  states,  the  result  of  com- 
bined efforts  of  just  such  societies  as  is  this 
to  which  I  speak  tonight.  What  blessed 
work  is  accomplished  by  such  societies  as 
yours,  my  friends.  To  yon  Mission  Church 
those  Indian  ponies  bear  their  precious  bur- 
dens ;  with  quiet  bound  the  maidens  dismount, 
leaving  their  steeds  to  the  care  of  gallant 
Indian  boys.  You  can  well  guess  they  had 
come  from  their  far  oft  homes  to  attend  the 
Sunday  School. 

\Vhen  we  speak  of  ''God's  Acre"  we  associ- 
ate the  term  with  a  cemetery.  Let  me  tell 
you  about  an  Indian  "God's  Acre."  Way  out 
in  that  wild  country  was  a  fertile  plot  of 
ground,  well  tilled  and  bearing  fruit  and  vege- 
tables of  various  kinds  ;  it  was  cared  for  as 
well  as  our  gardens  in  the  states.  It  was 
tilled  and  cared  for  by  Indian  men  and  v.omen 
far  better  than  they  worked  their  gardens  at 
home.  They  call  this  "God's  Acre"  for  right 
here  each  year  they  held  a  religious  meeting 
of  several  days'  duration  in  the  Autumn.  The 
fruit  and  vegetables  were  to  feed  the  multitude 


32     THROUGH  CHEROKEE  LANDS. 


who  came,  either  out  of  curiosity  or  to  wor- 
ship. What  a  grand  idea,  my  friends,  to  de- 
vote this  land,  and  their  labor,  for  the  benefit 
of  their  people.  How  glad  I  was  to  find  a 
so-called  barbarian  race  making  God's  Acre  a 
thing  of  life,  even  an  avenue  toward  eternal 
life ; — and  yet  it  made  me  sad  to  think  that 
God's  Acre  of  the  white  men  was  so  often 
only  a  graveyard.  By  this  time,  the  Sunday 
School  in  the  Mission  Church  must  be  over. 
We  have  had  no  prancing  ponies  to  take  us  to 
the  place  of  worship ;  if  we  had,  we  doubtless 
would  have  tumbled  off,  for  we  could  hardly 
ride  without  saddle,  and,  these  Indian  maids 
sometimes  do,  without  bridle.  I  saw  one  day 
an  Indian  woman  riding  to  the  public  spring, 
and  she  carried  a  three  year  old  child  in  her 
arms ;  when  she  reached  the  spring  she 
bounded  from  the  horse  with  the  child  in  her 
arms ;  she  kneeled  down  and  drank  as  the 
horse  quenched  his  thirst  and  then  taking  the 
great  lusty  boy  in  her  arms,  she  sprang  on 
the  horse's  back  and  rode  away,  perhaps  as 
much  annoyed  at  my  apparent  astonishment 
as  I  v\^as  at  her  surprising  agility.  Let  us 
enter  the  mission  church,  for  it  is  said  that  a 


THROUGH  CHEROKEE  LANDS.     33 

full-blood  Cherokee  preacher  is  to  address  the 
audience.  Let  us  test,  if  you  please,  the 
effectiveness  of  Indian  gesture.  We  have  all 
read  about  it.  Will  we  be  able  to  even  guess 
what  this  Cherokee  Indian  is  to  talk  about  in 
his  native  tongue  ?  Yonder  comes  our  Indian 
preacher ;  what  a  magnificent  form ;  what  a 
majestic  tread.  How  devoutly  he  kneels  and 
silently  prays,  and  how  musical  his  voice  as 
he  gives  out  the  hymn.  Do  Cherokees  sing  ? 
My  friends,  why  do  you  not  ask  the  same 
about  the  birds  ?  The  Cherokees  are  natural 
musicians.  One  evening  I  was  invited  down 
into  a  Cherokee  parlor  where  there  were 
twelve  Indian  youths  and  I,  of  course,  was  the 
thirteenth.  A  violin  was  on  the  table,  which 
the  first  youth  took  up  and  played  a  tune,  the 
next  took  it  and  played  another,  and  the  next 
and  the  next ; — all  drew  the  sweetest  of 
music  from  that  violin ;  it  reached  the  tenth. 
The  eleventh  and  the  twelfth  Indian  played 
his  tune  and  handed  the  violin  to  the  thir- 
teenth which  was  unlucky  me,  and  I  like  the 
white  woman  of  civilization  had  to  decline 
because  I  had  a  cold.  I  tell  you  my  friends, 
it  is  very  mortifying  to  a  civilized  white  man 


34     THROUGH  CHEROKEE  LANDS. 

to  go  west  to  see  so-called  barbarians,  and 
find  that  they  can  do  civilization  often  better 
than  he  can.  That  night  when  that  violin 
was  passed  to  me  as  I  looked  for  some  way  of 
escape;  I  would  have  given  a  ten  dollar  bill 
to  have  been  able  to  have  played  a  single 
strain  of  New  England's  old  fashioned  danc- 
ing tune  of  ''Pop  Goes  the  Weasel." 

I  remember  reading  somewhere  of  a  time 
when  the  first  missionaries  among  the  Chero- 
kees  were  much  frightened  at  the  approach  of 
a  big  and  reputed  fierce  chief  of  the  Chero- 
kees  with  a  party  of  his  braves.  They  did 
not  know  what  to  do,  but  they  prayed  silently 
and  sang  loudly  as  best  they  could,  a  beauti- 
ful hymn.  The  chief  and  his  braves  finally 
sat  in  a  semicircle  and  looked  entranced  and 
so  the  missionaries  kept  on  singing  until  the 
old  chief  rose  up  and  came  forward  and 
struck  his  hand  on  his  breast  and  said  "me 
heart  sing  too."  A  concert  by  Indian  young 
ladies  was  given  in  my  honor  while  I  was  at 
the  Cherokee  Capitol  and  it  was  a  fine  one  I 
assure  you.  I  found  many  pianos  and  organs 
in  that  far  ofT  land. 


VI. 


But  I  have  wandered  in  my  remarks  far 
away  from  the  mission  chapel  and  our  Indian 
preacher.  I  was  speaking  of  his  gestures. 
No  matter  in  what  position  an  Indian  stands, 
he  will  make  no  mistake  in  his  gesture  when 
indicating  the  point  of  the  compass.  Many 
white  orators  make  a  gesture  toward  the  west 
when  speaking  of  the  east,  but  an  Indian 
makes  no  such  mistake.  If  he  points  to  the 
east  he  means  the  east,  the  rising  sun,  or 
something  pertaining  to  the  east.  So  I  had 
in  the  beginning  a  clew  to  what  this  Cherokee 
had  to  say.  As  he  pointed  toward  the  east  he 
shaded  his  eves  with  his  hand  and  so  it  was 
safe  to  guess,  that  what  he  saw  to  the  east- 
ward was  light.  Was  it  the  light,  fire,  the 
golden  sun,  the  hunter's  moon,  or,  was  it  a 
silvery  star  ?  He  could  not  mean  fire,  for  as 
he  spoke  his  eye  and  finger  began  to  trace  a 


36     THROUGH  CHEROKEE  LANDS. 

course  from  the  horizon  to  the  zenith.  It 
could  not  be  the  sun  that  he  meant,  for  had  it 
been,  he  would  have  continued  to  shade  his 
eyes  with  his  hand.  It  was  not  the  hunter's 
moon,  for  he  crouched  not  his  body  in  that 
stealthy  attitude  of  the  Indian  hunter.  Then 
he  must  mean  a  star,  and,  by  the  time  I  had 
guessed  it,  the  Indian  preacher  had  traced  its 
orbit  to  a  point  directly  overhead  and  there 
his  finger  stopped.  I  remembered  only  two 
Biblical  stories  in  which  any  of  the  celestial 
orbs  stood  still.  The  first  was  where  Joshua 
commanded  the  sun  and  moon  to  stand  still, 
but  I  have  already  told  you  that  the  preacher 
had  proved  to  me  that  that  of  which  he  spoke 
was  a  star.  At  what  other  time  did  the  star 
stand  still  in  the  zenith  except  when  it  indi- 
cated to  the  wise  men  the  place  where  the 
Christ  Child  lay. 

I  wish  that  you  could  have  followed  with 
me  from  that  point  the  gesture  of  the  Indian 
preacher.  I  wish  you  could  have  seen  him 
stoop  as  if  to  enter  the  lowly  manger  ;  I  wish 
you  could  have  seen  how  tenderly  he  appar- 
ently lifted  in  his  arms  the  Babe  of  Bethle- 
hem ;  no  word  of  mine  can  describe  it  to  you. 


THROUGH    CHEROKEE   LANDS.  37 

He  went  further  than  the  manger.  For  a 
while,  I  could  not  trace  the  clew  to  that  of 
which  he  was  speaking  until  suddenly  he 
seemed  to  be  telling  of  a  youth.  Some  how, 
though  I  do  not  know  just  how,  I  caught  the 
idea.  Then  he  held  his  hand  at  the  height  of 
a  boy  twelve  years  of  age.  I  afterwards 
learned  that  the  Cherokees  had  no  word  to 
indicate  "years  old,"  and  they  expressed  it  by 
this  peculiar  gesture  indicating  height.  Christ 
was  about  twelve  years  old  when  he  went  with 
his  parents  to  Jerusalem  and  staid  to  talk  with 
the  wise  men  after  his  parents  started  on  their 
homeward  march.  I  have  seen  many  fine  ac- 
tors on  the  stage,  but  never  yet  have  I  seen 
one  that  could  be  more  dramatic  than  was 
this  Indian  preacher  when  he  depicted  the 
mother's  terror  and  consternation  on  missing 
her  child.  Here  gesture  found  expression 
and  voice  took  important  part.  When  she 
returned  the  voice  seemed  to  recede  into  the 
distance,  to  again  burst  into  entreaty,  as  she 
pleaded  with  him  to  return.  As  I  have  said, 
I  knew  not  a  word  of  Cherokee,  but  I  alone 
discovered  his  theme  and  followed  it  to  the 
end  simply  by  gesture  and  facial  expression 
and  the  modulation  of  his  voice. 


38  THROUGH    CHEROKEE   LANDS. 

My  time  is  nearly  up,  and  yet  there  is  so 
much  to  say.  When  I  am  talking  about  my 
favorite  Indians,  I  want  to  go  on  and  on  for- 
ever, no  matter  how  weary  my  audience  be- 
comes. But  I  must  sav  a  word  about  their 
schools.  I  visited  their  two  colleges  and 
some  of  their  common  schools.  I  saw  Indians 
proficient  in  mathematics,  Latin  and  even 
Greek.  Alas  for  my  pride  as  a  citizen  of  cul- 
tured Ithaca,  for  one  evening  one  of  the 
learned  Indians  of  the  Cherokee  Nation  came 
to  my  room  at  the  Cherokee  Hotel,  and  a 
dozen  or  more  times  he  quoted  with  excellent 
pronunciation  in  both  Latin  and  Greek,  and  I 
had  not  the  least  idea  what  he  was  talking 
about  until  I  returned  home  and  found  those 
quotations  in  the  back  part  of  Webster's  Dic- 
tionary. After  all.  Schools  in  the  Cherokee 
Nation  are  not  unlike  those  in  New  York. 
Even  they  have  college  scrapes,  but  they  are 
more  sensible  than  some  we  know  about  in  the 
east.  I  have  been  requested  to  tell  one  of 
these  Indian  College  pranks,  but  it  may  not 
be  new  to  you  all,  for  I  wrote  it  for  Frank 
Leslie's  Magazine  some  years  ago,  and  it  has 
several  times  been  reproduced. 


VII. 

You  see,  old  Blindy  was  an  ox  that  for 
years  was  kept  around  the  Seminary  buildings 
for  working  purposes  until  he  became  stone 
blind,  and  the  managers  thought  he  had  out- 
lived his  usefulness,  and  decreed  that  he 
must  die  to  furnish  food  for  the  boys'  table. 
When  this  decree  was  made  the  young  Cher- 
okees  at  once  called  a  Council  and  were  unan- 
imous, that  not  a  morsel  of  old  Blindv's  flesh 
should  pass  their  lips,  and  then  they  inter- 
ceded for  old  Blindy's  life.  But  of  no  avail. 
So  before  the  time  set  apart  for  the  execution, 
the  boys  by  stealth  led  the  ox  up  the  hill. 
Being  blind,  he  was  easily  made  to  follow 
them  up  the  steep  ascent,  and  at  last  he  was 
safe  on  the  very  top.  There  in  the  thicket 
they  concealed  and  tied  him  to  a  sapling,  and 
at  once  decked  him  with  bark,  beads  and 
flowers,    and    painted    his    horns    with    many 


40     THROUGH  CHEROKEE  LANDS. 

colors.  There  they  fed  him  until  the  mana- 
gers found  where  old  Blindy  was  and  how  he 
got  there,  and  the  boys  were  ordered  to  take 
him  back  again.  This  they  did,  escorting  him 
down  to  the  seminary  door  in  solemn  proces- 
sion. When  there,  they  tied  the  rope  which 
was  around  old  Blindy's  neck  to  the  bell  pull, 
and  by  the  shaking  of  his  head,  he  summoned 
to  the  door  his  would-be  executioner.  Again 
the  boys  interceded  for  old  BUndy's  life,  and 
when  the  managers  saw  their  earnest  desire 
and  looked  on  old  Blindy  in  his  gay  trimmings 
the  request  was  granted,  and  old  Blindy  was 
permitted  to  await  the  approach  of  a  natural 
death,  which  came  some  years  after. 

There  are  999  things  more  which  I  might 
tell  you  about,  such  as  my  reception  in  the 
Cherokee  Council  House,  where  the  Chief  in 
due  form  bade  me  welcome,  and  a  member  of 
his  Council  went  home  and  donned  in  my 
honor  a  swallow  tailed  dress  coat  which  was 
ornamented  with  enormous  brass  buttons.  I 
went  bravely  through  the  informal  introduction 
to  twenty  or  more  Cherokee  Senators,  and 
fifty  or  more  Cherokee  Assemblymen,  but 
when  this  was  over  and  a  score  of   Cherokee 


THROUGH  CHEROKEE  LANDS.     4 1 

young  ladies,  some  of  them  dressed  quite 
fashionably  in  silks,  were  presented  to  me  I 
just  wilted.  I  tell  you  my  friends  it  is  very 
surprising  and  embarrassing  to  a  bashful 
young  man  from  civilization  where  it  is  gener- 
ally supposed  that  Indians  are  simply  barbar- 
ians, to  be  suddenly  confronted  by  silk 
dressed  Indian  belles,  some  of  whom  were  as 
graceful  as  if  they  had  graduated  from  a 
metropolitan  dancing  academy.  Some  one 
has  asked  me  to  speak  of  their  social  life.  I 
attended  what  I  call  a  high  tea  in  the  Chero- 
kee Nation.  I  went  at  the  special  request  of 
a  Cherokee  maiden.  She  promised  to  do  all 
the  cooking  and  I  assure  you  the  supper  was 
fine.  I  wish  some  of  our  white  girls  could 
cook  as  well.  It  was  a  formal  affair  and  got- 
ten up  after  the  native  customs.  When  a 
Cherokee  Indian  starts  in  life,  he  begins  ac- 
cording to  his  means.  He  builds  first  a  hut 
of  one  room.  If  he  improves  financially,  he 
adds  another  and  so  on  seldom  uniting  the 
rooms.  So,  when  you  are  in  the  parlor  you 
must  go  out  of  doors  to  get  into  the  dining 
or  sleeping  rooms.  When  I  reached  the 
cabin    at   the    appointed   time,    no    one    was 


42     THROUGH  CHEROKEE  LANDS. 

visible  except  the  old  Indian  who  was  chop- 
ping wood.  He  said  "howdy"  and  pointed 
to  the  empty  reception  room,  which  we  en- 
tered, while  he  kept  on  chopping  wood.  A 
half  hour  after,  the  old  lady  looked  into  the 
room  and  said  "howdy,"  and  left  at  once. 
About  half  an  hour  after,  our  fair  Indian 
hostess  came  and  showed  us  to  the  dining 
room  ;  we  went  out  of  doors  to  get  there. 
Myself  and  friend  sat  at  the  table,  which  was 
up  to  our  chins ;  the  old  man  continued  to 
chop  wood  outside  ;  the  old  woman  sat  in  the 
corner  of  the  room  on  a  very  low  stool ;  the 
fair  Indian  girl  stood  directly  behind  us,  and 
the  feast  went  merrily  on.  When  our  menu 
was  finished,  myself  and  friend  went  back  to 
the  parlor ;  and  the  old  man  left  his  wood 
pile,  the  old  woman  her  stool  and  with  the 
girl  they  all  sat  down  and  continued  the 
feast  where  we  left  off,  and  we  waited  for 
them  to  get  through.  This  was  their  way  of 
showing  honor  to  guests.  The  evening  was 
pleasantly  passed  by  us  all  together  around  a 
roaring  fire  which  was  kept  burning  in  a  big 
fire  place.  All  were  social  except  the  old 
Indian,  he  was  painfully  embarrassed ;  when- 


THROUGH    CHEROKEE    LA.NDS.  43 

ever  he  spoke  during  the  evening,  he  at  once 
left  the  room  and  went  to  the  wood  pile  and 
brought  in  a  small  log  of  wood.  After  the 
big  tire  place  was  full,  he  stacked  it  up  on 
one  side  of  the  cabin  until  before  I  left  at  ten 
o'clock  he  had  it  piled  about  five  feet  high. 
Each  log  of  wood  represented  a  remark  by  the 
Indian. 

Perhaps  you  would  not  think  it,  but  I  once 
stood  on  a  gallows. — a  gallows  on  which 
twelve  bad  Indians  had  been  executed.  I 
can  assure  you  it  is  a  peculiar  sensation  one 
has,  while  standing  on  the  gallows  on  which 
twelve  Indians  have  been  hung,  and  have  the 
hangman  of  six  of  them  close  beside  you.  I 
just  mention  these  facts  because  the  papers  of 
late  have  been  full  about  an  Indian,  who  was 
to  be  shot,*  that  was  given  his  liberty  until 
the  time  of  execution  and  he  came  back  on 
time.  I  have  heard  people  doubt  this  story, 
but  I  do  not.  The  Cherokee  hangman  told 
me  several  instances  of  this  kind,  and  if  the 
condemned  gets  a  little  late  by  saying  good- 

*The  Cherokees  execute  their  murderers  by- 
hanging,  the  Choctaws  shoot  whom  they  condemn 
to  death. 


44     THROUGH  CHEROKEE  LANDS. 

bye  at  home  the  preparations  for  the  hanging 
go  merrily  on.  He  is  sure  to  be  there.  The 
hangman  told  me  he  never  had  known  an  In- 
dian, who  was  sentenced  to  death  and  was  al- 
lowed to  go  home  to  see  his  people,  that 
failed  to  return  at  the  appointed  time,  and  he 
never  saw  evidence  of  fear  on  the  gallows. 


VIII. 

*"Howdy  !" 

The  speaker  was  an  Indian,  whom  I  one 
day  met  as  I  was  travelling  upon  the  half-road 
and  half-trail  that  marked  one  of  the  lonesome 
prairies  of  the  Cherokee  nation. 

The  Indian  wore  a  semi-civilized  dress,  the 
barbaric  epoch  being  represented  by  the  buck- 
skin trousers,  with  fringed  stripes  of  fine-cut 
hide  to  ornament  each  leg.  In  marked  con- 
trast with  the  buckskin  breeches  was  his  white 
vest, — or  the  one  which  might  have  been  white 
when  he  started  upon  his  journey  over  the 
dusty  prairie  trail. 

His  coat   was   before   him   on  the   saddle  ; 


*This  chapter  is  taken  from  the  "Green  Bag," 
a  law  magazine  pubHshed  in  Boston,  the  subject 
matter  being  the  author's  notes  on  Cherokee  laws 
and  courts  which  he  made  while  in  the  Cherokee 
Nation. 


46     THROUGH  CHEROKEE  LANDS. 

beneath  his  white  vest  he  wore  a  red  shirt ;  a 
black  tie  coiled  beneath  the  overlapping 
shirt-collar,  and  was  fastened  in  a  sailor-knot 
in  front. 

Simultaneously  with  his  exclamation  of 
"Howdy !"  he  emphatically  drew  his  bridle, 
and  his  little  Cherokee  pony  stopped  short ; 
and  bringing  mine  to  a  standstill,  we  began 
to  size  each  other  up  as  strangers  do  when  they 
meet  alone  on  the  prairie. 

"You  are  a  friend  of  the  Cherokees,"  he 
said  ;  "j^ou  wrote  the  life  of  our  greatest  man." 

His  remark  was  at  the  same  time  an  affir- 
mation and  interrogation.  He  noticed  my 
look  of  admission  and  surprise,  and  said,  "I 
heard  that  you  were  over  there," — pointing 
toward  Tahlequah,  the  Cherokee  capital.  "But 
few  people  come  to  this  nation  unless  we  know 
who  they  are,  and  what  they  are  here  for.  It 
is  well  that  it  is  so,  if  they  are  white  men." 

Glancing  at  his  well-filled  haversack,  which 
hung  at  his  pony's  side,  I  noticed  several 
leather-covered  books  protruding  from  its 
open  top.  Desiring  to  show  penetrative  fac- 
ulties equal  to  the  Indian's,  I  said,  both  inter- 
rogatively and  afifirmatively,  "Colporteur  ?" 


THROUGH  CHEROKEE  LANDS.     47 

Whether  he  knew  what  I  meant  or  not,  I 
do  not  know ;  but  he  appeared  pleased  that  I 
had  noticed  his  books.  He  laughed,  and  in  a 
good-natured  way,  tapping  his  haversack  with 
his  finger,  he  said, — 

"Heap  law  there  !" 

"Then  you  are  a  lawyer,"  I  said. 

I  had  been  previously  informed  concerning 
these  travelling  Indian  lawyers,  and  was  not 
surprised  to  receive  his  profound  bow  of  as- 
sent. 

Rev.  A.  N.  Chamberlain,  a  lifelong  resi- 
dent, teacher,  missionary,  also  interpreter  in 
the  Cherokee  country,  had  said  to  me,  "I  pre- 
sume that  there  is  no  people  anywhere  better 
informed  than  the  non-EngHsh  speaking 
Cherokees  are  in  regard  to  their  laws,  and 
their  treaties  with  the  United  States." 

I  had  here  an  English-speaking  Cherokee 
armed  and  equipped  with  his  law  library,  and 
I  resolved  to  interview  him. 

The  mid-day  sun  was  scorching  the  prairie, 
and  there  was  no  convenient  shade-tree ;  but 
it  was  only  the  work  of  an  instant  for  the 
Indian  lawyer  to  unroll  his  blanket,  in  which 
were  four  sticks,  some  over  three  feet  long. 


48  THROUGH   CHEROKEE   LANDS. 

Having  dismounted,  he  stuck  these  sticks  in 
the  ground,  and  threw  the  blanket  over  them ; 
and  into  the  shade  of  this  hastily  improvised 
sun-umbrella,  or  wickeyup,  he  invited  me,  and 
at  my  request,  while  the  incense  of  pure 
"havanas,"  which  I  furnished,  was  wafted 
upward,  he  displayed  his  law  library, — the 
code  of  the  Cherokee  nation. 

An  ancient-looking  book,  printed  in  En- 
glish, was  a  compilation  of  the  laws  which 
were  adopted  by  the  Cherokee  Council  at 
various  periods  previous  to  1852.  It  surprised 
me,  and  may  be  surprising  to  others  to  know, 
that  the  compilation  occupied  nearly  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  pages ;  and  many  of  the  laws 
were  passed  by  their  Council  before  the  Cher- 
okees  took  their  long,  sad  journey  from  Geor- 
gia to  the  land  which  they  now  occupy.  The 
first  of  the  compiled  laws  was  one  dated  1808, 
concerning  horse-stealing, — the  convicted 
thief  to  be  punished  with  one  hundred  lashes 
on  the  bare  back. 

''The  Cherokee  tradition  concerning  the 
reception  of  their  first  law  is  not  unlike  that 
of  your  own  people,"  said  the  lawyer. 

"Some  time  after  the  red  man  entered  the 


THROUGH  CHEROKEE  LANDS.     49 

wilderness,  they  came  to  a  very  high  moun- 
tain, and  their  God  came  down  upon  the 
mountain,  and  their  leader  went  up  and  con- 
versed with  God, — or,  rather,  as  their  fathers 
said,  with  the  son  of  God.  They  supposed, 
therefore,  that  God  had  a  son,  as  it  was  said 
to  be  the  son  of  God  that  came  down  on  the 
mountain  ;  and  the  top  of  the  mountain  was 
bright  like  the  sun.  There  God  gave  the 
leader  a  law,  written  on  a  smooth  stone.  The 
reason  of  this  being  written  on  stone  was  as 
follows : — 

"God  gave  our  first  parents  a  law  to  be 
handed  down  to  posterity  ;  but  when  the  lan- 
guage was  destroyed,  and  men  began  to  quar- 
rel and  kill  each  other,  they  forgot  this  law ; 
and  therefore  God  wrote  his  law  on  stone, 
that  it  might  not  be  lost.  Their  leader  also 
received  other  instructions  from  God,  which 
he  wrote  in  a  book  made  of  skins." 

And  so  it  happened  that  a  long  time  before 
the  Cherokees  reached  the  country  which  they 
now  occupy,  they  had  a  full  code  of  laws» 

They  had  striven  to  imitate  the  whites  in 
the  management  of  their  affairs,  and  their 
Councils  were  well  conducted.     In    1810  the 


50     THROUGH  CHEROKEE  LANDS. 

Council  abolished  clans,  and  unanimously 
passed  an  act  of  oblivion  for  all  lives  for 
which  they  had  been  indebted  one  to  another. 
In  1820  the  nation  was  reorganized,  and,  by  a 
resolve  of  its  National  Council,  divided  into 
eight  districts,  each  of  which  had  the  privilege 
of  sending  four  members  to  their  legislature. 
Some  of  their  principal  laws  and  regulations  : 
A  prohibition  of  spirituous  liquor  to  be  brought 
into  the  nation  by  white  men.  If  a  white  man 
took  a  Cherokee  wife,  he  must  marry  her 
according  to  their  laws ;  but  her  property  was 
not  affected  by  such  union.  No  man  was 
allowed  but  one  wife.  A  judge,  sheriff,  and 
two  deputies  were  allowed  each  district.  Em- 
bezzlement, intercepting  and  opening  sealed 
letters,  were  punished  by  a  fine  of  a  hundred 
dollars,  and  one  hundred  lashes  on  the  bare 
back.  They  had  a  statute  of  limitations, 
Avhich,  however,  did  not  affect  notes.  A  will 
was  valid  if  found,  on  the  decease  of  its 
maker,  to  have  been  written  by  him,  and  wit- 
nessed by  two  creditable  persons.  A  man 
leaving  no.  will,  all  his  children  shared  equal, 
and  his  wife  as  one  of  them ;  if  he  left  no 
children,  then  the  widow  had  a  fourth  part  of 


THROUGH    CHEROKEE    LANDS.  5 1 

all  the  property,  the  other  three-fourths  going 
to  his  nearest  relatives.  Even  before  the  di- 
vision of  the  nation  into  districts,  and  the 
appointment  of  a  judge,  marshal,  sheriffs,  and 
deputies,  there  was  an  organized  company  of 
light  horse,  which  executed  the  orders  of  the 
chief,  searched  out  offenders,  and  brought 
them  to  justice.  It  was  a  fundamental  law  of 
the  Cherokees  that  no  land  should  be  sold  to 
the  white  people  without  the  authority  of  a 
majority  of  the  nation.  Transgressors  of  this 
law  were  punished  with  death. 

The  Cherokee  lawyer  now  replaced  the  old 
law-book — which,  by  the  way,  was  printed 
wholly  in  English — carefully  in  his  haversack, 
and  took  out  two  more  volumes.  They  were 
handsomely  printed,  bound  in  leather,  and  one 
was  printed  in  English,  the  other  in  the  Cher- 
okee language,  and  in  the  alphabet  that  Se- 
quo-yah,  one  of  the  learned  micmbers  of  their 
tribe,  had  given  them  over  half  a  century  ago. 

"These  are  our  latest  compilations,"  said 
the  Indian  lav^yer,  with  a  proud  manner,  open- 
ing the  covers  of  the  book  and  turning  over 
the  pages. 

"In  spite  of  what  the  whites  say  about  us, 


52     THROUGH  CHEROKEE  LANDS. 

you  can  see  that  we  are  far  from  being  a  law- 
less people,  and  possibly  w^e  can  give  the 
white  men  a  point  or  two  on  the  enforcement 
of  law  ourselves."  By  Cherokee  law,  every 
killing  of  a  human  being,  without  the  authority 
of  law,  by  stabbing,  shooting,  poisoning,  or 
other  means,  is  either  murder  or  manslaugh- 
ter, in  the  first,  second,  or  third  degree,  ac- 
cording to  the  intention  of  the  person  perpe- 
trating the  act,  and  the  facts  and  circumstances 
connected  with  each  act.  If  the  killing  is 
done  intentionally  or  with  premeditated  de- 
sign, the  convicted  person  must  suffer  death  by 
hanging ;  if  done  without  design  to  effect 
death,  or  by  culpable  negligence,  the  term  of 
imprisonment  is  not  less  than  two  years. 
Abortionists  are  imprisoned  for  not  less  than 
two  or  more  than  ten  years ;  seconds  and 
medical  advisers  in  prize-fights,  where  death 
occurs,  are  deemed  guilty  of  manslaughter. 
Rape  is  punished  by  imprisonment  from  ten 
to  twenty-five  years,  and  the  ravishment  of 
female  children  is  punished  by  hanging. 
From  five  to;fifteen  years  is  the  imprisonment 
for  arson ;  and  if  death  results  from  the  fire, 
death  is  the  prospective  fate  of  the  one  con- 
victed. 


THROUGH    CHKROKEE    LANDS.  53 

"Marriage  and  divorce  are  now  subject  to 
law  with  as  innch  strictness  as  in  the  States. 
No  marriage  can  be  contracted  while  either  of 
the  parties  has  a  husband  or  wife  Hving,  or 
between  persons  of  a  kin  nearer  than  first 
cousins ;  and  a  heavy  penalty  is  inflicted  on 
any  who  join  minors  in  marriage  without  the 
consent  of  their  parents.  Divorces  are  regu- 
lated by  law,  and  are  adjudged  for  adultery, 
imprisonment  for  three  years,  for  wilful  deser- 
tion or  neglect  for  one  year,  for  extreme 
cruelty  or  habitual  drunkenness.  The  Chero- 
kees  as  a  people  have  always  favored  temper- 
ance, and  have  an  effective  prohibitory  law  on 
the  statutes.  The  United  States  law  lays  a 
penalty  on  any  white  man  or  Indian  who 
brings  liquor  across  the  line  of  the  Territory, 
for  any  purpose  whatever.  The  Cherokee 
laws  lay  a  penalty  upon  the  sale  of  any  liquor 
after  it  is  brought  into  the  country. 

"So,"  said  the  lawyer,  "you  see  that  the 
Cherokees  are  a  law-abiding  people ;  and 
their  laws  must  certainly  be  looked  upon  with 
interest  and  respect  by  all  civilized  nations  of 
the  world." 

"How  about  the  enforcement  of  law  ?"  I 
queried. 


54     THROUGH  CHEROKEE  LANDS. 

"The  judiciary  system  is  divided  into  Su- 
preme, Circuit,  and  District  Courts.  The 
Supreme  Court  consists  of  three  judges,  one 
of  whom  is  selected  by  a  joint  vote  of  the 
National  Council  as  Chief-Justice. 

"The  power  of  the  Supreme  Court  is  about 
the  same  as  the  power  of  a  similar  body  in  the 
States, — the  decision  made  has  the  force  of 
law.  The  judges  have  and  exercise  exclusive 
criminal  jurisdiction  in  all  cases  of  man- 
slaughter, and  in  all  cases  involving  punish- 
ment of  death ;  this  court  also  has  exclusive 
jurisdiction  of  all  cases  instituted  to  contest 
an  election  held  by  the  people,  and  brought 
before  it  as  provided  by  law  ;  they  have  power 
to  award  judgments,  order  decrees,  and  to 
issue  such  writs  and  processes  as  they  may 
find  necessary  to  carry  into  full  effect  the 
power  vested  in  them  by  law.  There  are 
three  judicial  circuits, — the  Northern,  Middle, 
and  Southern ;  and  one  judge  is  elected  for 
each  circuit.  The  circuit  courts  have  juris- 
diction in  all  criminal  cases,  except  those  of 
manslaughter,  and  cases  involving  directly  or 
indirectly  a  sum  exceeding  one  hundred  dol- 
lars, and  all  civil  suits  in  which  the   title  to 


THROUGH  CHEROKEE  LANDS.     55 

real  estate  or  the  right  to  the  occupancy  of 
any  portion  of  the  common  domain  shall  be  at 
issue,  exceeding  one  hundred  dollars.  There 
is  also  a  district  court  for  each  district,  for 
trying  of  all  criminal  cases,  whether  felonies 
or  misdemeanors,  involving  the  sum  of  one 
hundred  dollars  or  less." 

"Then  you  have  a  jury  system  ?"  I  said. 

"Yes ;  but  no  man  is  allowed  as  a  juror  who 
is  under  twenty-one  years  of  age,  nor  any  per- 
son who  may  be  under  punishment  for  misde- 
meanor ;  and  no  member  of  the  legislative  or 
any  commissioned  officer  of  the  nation,  offici- 
ating clerg}anan,  physician,  lawyer,  public 
ferryman,  school-teacher,  or  one  older  than 
sixty-five  years,  is  compelled  to  serve  as  juror 
or  as  guard.  Five  persons  constitute  a  jury 
in  the  trial  of  all  civil  suits,  any  three  of  whom 
may  render  a  verdict.  In  case  of  murder, 
twelve  jurymen  are  required ;  but  in  all  other 
cases  the  jury  consists  of  nine  persons ;  and 
no  verdict  is  rendered  in  any  criminal  case 
without  the  consent  of  the  whole  jury.  The 
grand  jurors  are  selected  with  especial  care 
from  the  best  and  most  intellectual  men  in  the 
nation.     The  term  of  service  is  for  one  year 


56     THROUGH  CHEROKEE  LANDS. 

unless  discharged.  Five  men  are  summoned 
from  each  district  for  this  purpose, 

"I  am  on  my  way  to  court  now,"  said  the 
lawyer;  -'will  you  go  with  me?"  And  con- 
senting, I  rode  back  with  him  to  the  court 
house. 

The  case  on  trial  was  something  like  this  : — 

A  white  man  had  married  a  Cherokee 
woman,  and  therefore  was  the  possessor  of  a 
farm  ;  and  for  a  period  of  three  days  had  em- 
ployed, without  permit  of  the  court,  a  white 
boy.  The  warrant  set  forth  that  "thereby  the 
peace  and  dignity  of  the  Cherokee  nation  had 
been  damaged  to  the  extent  of  seventy-five 
dollars." 

No  citizen  of  the  United  States  is  permitted 
to  labor  in  the  Cherokee  nation  without  a  per- 
mit, which  is  issued  by  the  district  clerk,  and 
which  shows  the  nam^e  of  the  employer  and 
employee,  the  length  of  time  to  be  employed, 
and  the  occupation  to  be  followed.  For  such 
permit  the  employer  pays  in  advance  one  dol- 
lar per  month  to  the  clerk ;  but  no  permit  is 
given  for  a  longer  time  than  a  year.  The  per- 
son "permitted"  is  obliged  to  subscribe  to  the 
following  oath,  to  wit : — 


THROUGH  CHEROKEE  LANDS.     57 

"I  do  solemnly  swear  [or  affirm]  that  I  am 
a  citizen  of  the  United  States  [or  a  foreigner]; 
that  it  is  not  on  account  of  any  criminal  of- 
fence against  the  laws  of  the  same  that  I  have 
come  to  seek  employment  in  this  nation ;  that 
within  ten  (lo)  days  after  the  expiration  of  my 
permit,  unless  the  same  shall  be  renewed,  I 
will  remove  without  the  limits  of  this  nation." 

It  was  for  the  violation  of  the  permit  law 
that  the  employer  was  under  arrest.  At  an 
early  hour  Cherokees  of  all  grades  had  as- 
sembled in  the  vicinity  of  the  court-house. 
The  sheriff  soon  came  to  the  door,  and  sum- 
moned his  jury.  Looking  over  the  crowd, 
with  stentorian  voice  he  shouted, — 

"Ho-ho-o-o-o-o,  Hog  Catcher  !  Ho-ho-o-o- 
o-o,  Six  Killer !  Ho-ho-o-o-o-o  you,  Coming 
Deer !  Ho-ho-o-o-o-o  you,  Walking  Stick ! 
Ho-ho-o-o-o-o  you,  Kingfisher  !  Ho-ho-o-o-o-o 
you,  Muskrat !"  and  his  jury  was  complete. 

I  am  not  absolutely  sure  that  I  have  re- 
corded the  names  of  this  particular  jury  cor- 
rectly ;  some  of  these  names  were  summoned, 
and  the  other  names  are  frequently  met  with, 
and  their  owners  find  their  way  from  time  to 
time  into  the  jury  seats. 


58  THROUGH    CHEROKEE   LANDS. 

This  assemblage  was  by  far  the  most  novel 
of  any  that  I  saw  in  the  nation.  Men,  women, 
and  children  sat  around  the  stove,  or  gathered 
in  little  groups  about  the  oak-grove  that  sur- 
rounded the  court-house.  INIost  all  were 
smoking,  and  all  were  in  their  every-day  dress. 
The  jurymen,  six  in  number,  had  gathered 
behind  the  rail  that  separated  the  jury  seats, 
counsel  seats,  and  judge's  table  from  the  gap- 
ing crowed  outside. 

The  gate  leading  behind  the  rail  was  closed 
as  the  jurymen  took  their  seats ;  but  while  the 
court  was  in  session,  any  one  wishing  to  speak 
to  the  lawyers  and  judge  usually  straddled 
over  the  rail  in  preference  to  opening  the 
gate.  The  jurymen  could  all  speak  English 
save  one ;  an  interpreter  was  sworn  in  for  his 
benefit,  and  all  the  evidence  was  given  twice, 
— first  in  English,  and  then  in  Cherokee.  As 
the  case  proceeded,  and  the  evidence  grew 
more  complicated,  the  jury  dropped  into  ap- 
parently deep  meditation.  Finally  one  drew 
out  a  long  pipe,  filled  it  with  tobacco,  and 
commenced  to  smoke.  Another  and  another 
of  the  jurymen  followed  with  a  pipe.  The 
interested  audience   outside  the  bars   also  lit 


THROUGH    CHEROKEE    LANDS.  59 

their  pipes,  and  at  length  the  judge,  five  of 
the  jurymen,  and  nearly  the  whole  audience 
were  smoking. 

To  show  the  inconsistency  of  their  etiquette, 
I  mention  that  while  all  were  thus  smoking, 
in  order  to  protect  myself  from  a  draught  of 
air,  as  I  sat  by  a  window,  I  put  on  my  travel- 
ling-cap. Had  I  been  in  a  more  dignified 
court  in  the  States,  I  should  not  have  done  so; 
but  in  this  assemblage  blue  with  the  smoke  of 
tobacco,  I  forgot  myself,  and  in  a  few  minutes 
was  brought  to  grief  by  being  touched  lightly 
on  the  shoulder  by  one  in  authority,  who  also 
had  a  pipe  in  his  mouth,  who  said, — 

"Your  pardon,  sir ;  but  it  is  not  customary 
in  our  nation  to  wear  one's  hat  in  the  presence 
of  the  judge." 

Notwithstanding  this  reproof,  I  listened  to 
the  arguments  of  the  lawyers  with  pleasure. 
They  were  well  posted  in  regard  to  their  laws, 
and  handled  their  respective  sides  with 
shrewdness.  The  Cherokee  lawyers  displayed 
a  marked  logical  penetration  into  the  meaning 
and  intent  of  the  laws,  and  a  weak  place  in  a 
witness's  testimony  was  quickly  detected  ;  and 
he  was  most  unmercifully  handled  when  the 
lawyer  summed  up  the  case. 


IX. 


One  beautiful  morning  some  years  ago, 
behold  a  grand  procession  moving  down  the 
main  street  of  the  Cherokee  capital.  First 
two  big  dogs, — of  which  figuratively  speaking 
the  Cherokee  nation  has  thousands, — led  the 
way,  just  as  soberly  as  would  two  city  police- 
men on  a  like  occasion.  Next  was  an  Indian 
pony  on  which  sat  a  half-breed  Indian  dressed 
in  cowboy's  hat,  which  had  an  ornament  of  a 
feather  pulled  from  a  rooster's  tail.  He  wore 
also  a  brown  jacket,  and  trousers  of  same 
color  and  had  a  big  six  shooter  protruding 
from  a  cartridge  belt.  Next  came  two  vicious, 
stately,  long  eared  mules,  followed  by  a  wagon 
of  doubtful  build,  the  dasher  of  which  had 
long  since  been  ruined  by  the  viciousness  of 
mulish  heels,  and  in  this  wagon  and  behind 
these  mules  in  pomp  and  state  sat  the  Chero- 
kee Ciiief  and    he    who    speaks    to    you   this 


THROUGH  CHEROKEE  LANDS.     6 1 

evening.  All  the  people  seemed  to  be  on  the 
streets  drawn  up  in  line.  Down  by  the  Cher- 
okee hotels,  the  stores  and  the  great  Council 
House  we  went  out  into  the  beautiful  suburbs 
to  a  trail  down  which  years  ago,  moved  a  far 
more  famous  expedition  than  was  our  own,  for 
it  was  on  this  other  bright  morning  in  1840, 
that  there  passed  down  this  trail  one  of  the 
most  peculiar  expeditions  in  search  of  knowl- 
edge that  this  world  has  ever  known.  First 
and  foremost  in  that  company  was  that  Indian 
Se-quo-yah,  who  had  invented  the  alphabet 
that  had  so  helped  in  enlightening  and 
christianizing  his  people. ''^  He  had  con- 
ceived a  new  idea,  that  of  forming  an  alpha- 
bet by  which  all  Indians  could  speak  and 
read    a    common    language    and    thus    better 


*The  author  has  a  personal  letter  from  Rev.  A. 
N.  Chamberlin,  life-long  missionary  and  official 
interpreter  for  the  Cherokee  Nation  in  which  he 
writes  : — 

"As  to  the  amount  of  good  Se-quo-yah 's  alphabet 
has  done  our  people  it  is  beyond  estimation.  At 
least  ten  thousand  people  read  today  who  could 
not  were  it  not  for  Se-quo-yah's  alphabet.  Untold 
thousands  since  1827  have  been  led  through  it  to 
Jesus. 


62  THROUGH    CHEROKEE   LANDS. 

work  together  for  the  upbuilding  of  the  In- 
dian race.  To  do  this  he  thought  to  study 
the  language  of  all  western  tribes  and  hence 
it  was  that  in  1840  he  started  as  I  have  said 
on  the  most  wonderful  expedition  for  the 
search  of  knowledge  that  this  world  has  ever 
known.  He  started  with  a  Cherokee  boy, 
two  oxen  and  a  rude  Indian  cart.  Two  years 
did  that  wonderful  knowledge  crusade  move 
from  tribe  to  tribe, — but,  alas  Se-quo-yah  died 
with  his  task  unfinished — before  the  culmina- 
tion of  his  grand  conception — a  conception  so 
great,  that  no  human  being  though  a  white 
man,  ever  conceived  the  like  before — that  of 
forming  a  more  wonderful  alphabet,  one  that 
would  enable  all  Indian  tribes  of  North 
America  to  read  and  speak  the  common  lan- 
guage, that  would  enable  them  to  unite  in 
forming  a  grand  confederacy  for  the  purpose 
of  defense,  for  the  mutual  preservation  from 
the  encroachments  of  the  white  men  and  their 
lasting  perpetuation  in  the  land  deeded  to  the 
Indians  by  Almighty  God. 

On  my  return  to  the  Council  House  I  was 
taken  into  the  room  devoted  to  the  use  of  the 
Board  of   Education,    and   I   noted   a   marble 


THROUGH  CHEROKEE  LANDS.     63 

bust  over  the  president's  seat,  and  says  I, 
what  white  man  is  this  that  the  Cherokees 
thus  honor  in  marble.  And  then  one  Chero- 
kee with  face  glowing  with  enthusiasm  such  as 
only  National  pride  can  give  said  :  "This  is 
no  white  man,  this  is  Se-quo-yah,  the  Chero- 
kee, a  pale  face  preserved  in  marble  the  mem- 
ory of  the  Father  of  his  Countr}- — the  Chero- 
kee in  the  same  way  honors  the  Father  of 
Learning  to  his  people  and  that  bust  is  a 
token  of  gratitude,  which  was  carved  at  the 
order  of  the  Cherokee  Council.  Down  in  the 
Senate  room  of  the  Cherokee  Capitol,  the 
Cherokee  Senate  did  me  a  special  honor,  they 
passed  a  resolution  of  thanks  for  the  book  I 
had  written,  which  was  signed  by  the  princi- 
pal Chief  and  others  in  authority,  thanks  as 
the  document  read  for  my  interest  in  showing 
to  the  world  that  there  could  be  something 
good  and  even  great  in  the  American  Indian. 
This  document  was  sealed  with  the  seal  of  the 
Nation  and  it  is  said  was  the  first  document 
of  the  kind  ever  given  by  the  red  race  to  a 
white  man. 


X. 


My  journey  was  a  mixture  of  rain,  sun- 
shine and  tornadoes.  "What  a  charming 
morning !"  I  exclaimed  to  my  Creek  host,  the 
proprietor  of  a  log  cabin  near  Okmulgee, 
where  I  had  been  to  see  the  handsome  Coun- 
cil-house of  the  Creeks,  which  was  fully  fifty 
miles  from  the  chief's  home.  "What  a  con- 
trast it  was  to  the  raging  elements  of  a  few 
hours  ago !"  I  continued,  thinking  of  the 
storm  of  the  evening  previous,  when  the  scat- 
tering clouds  rolled  themselves  into  a  darker 
ball,  and  by  thus  coming  into  closer  contact 
had  fretted  themselves  into  fury,  and  then 
tore  across  the  country  in  pitiless  force. 
Although  I  did  not  know  it  then,  that  storm, 
as  raged  in  the  northward,  had  twisted  down 
huge  trees,  plowed  wide  furrows  in  thick 
forests,  and  had  sent  the  debris  of  scores  of 
frail    homes    of    a     Western     village     flying 


THROUGH    CHEROKEE    LANDS.  65 

through  the  air  as  easily  as  thistledown  is 
carried  on  the  September  breeze.  But  the 
morning  was  indeed  charming,  and  yet  the 
storm  had  in  no  way  cooled  the  air.  A  slight 
haze  now  hung  over  the  forest,  which  fringed 
a  stream  far  over  the  prairie.  The  diamond 
drops  sparkled  in  the  bosom  of  many  varie- 
gated and  gaudy  flowers.  Even  while  I  looked, 
the  haze  suddenly  lifted  from  the  far-off  trees ; 
the  darker  clouds  turned  lirst  yellow,  and  then 
red,  the  colors  finally  fading  until  they  melted 
away,  leaving  the  sky  an  azure  blue. 

"It  will  be  some  time  before  there  will  be 
another  storm,"  I  remarked  to  my  Creek 
host,  who  had  by  this  time  put  on  his  wide- 
rimmed  white  hat,  having  on  it  a  band  of 
down,  ornamented  with  three  long  feathers  of 
a  rooster's  tail. 

"May  rain  a  heap  more  soon ;  no  tell ; 
pretty  much  may ;  heap  hot — look  out,"  re- 
plied my  host. 

The  Creek's  surmises  were  right,  for,  as 
late  that  afternoon  I  rode  across  the  prairie 
to  a  small  station  to  board  a  train  for  a  little 
village  further  down  on  the  Missouri  Pacific, 
I  saw  once  more  clouds  gathering  in  the  West. 


66     THROUGH  CHEROKEE  LANDS. 

Before  the  train  arrived  they  had  rolled  them- 
selves up  into  a  mountain-heap  of  blackness. 
Once  the  setting  sun  lit  up  the  cloud-bank, 
and  it  resembled  a  spacious  castle  made  of 
jasper  and  precious  stones. 

"Another  shower  to  the  eastward — look 
out !"  said  a  fellow  loiterer  at  the  station,  as 
he  noted  the  lightning  playing  on  a  similar 
cloud-bank  in  that  direction.  Before  I  stepped 
into  the  train  I  noticed  that  the  cloud  in  the 
west  had  started  as  if  in  chase  after  the  one 
in  the  east.  Then  the  lightning  began  to  be 
so  sharp  and  vivid  that  the  whole  prairie  for 
miles  in  every  direction  was  a  blaze  of  electric 
light,  and  each  tree,  shrub,  leaf,  flower  and 
spear  of  grass  was  covered  with  the  glow  of 
silver.  The  lightning  came  in  sheets  at  first, 
but  soon  a  shower  of  flame  began  falling  from 
the  heavens.  It  was  not  a  storm  where  now 
and  then  streaks  of  zigzag,  forked  lightning 
appeared  to  unite  earth  and  heaven,  but  it 
was  more  as  if  the  million  raindrops  had  been 
converted  into  streams  of  liquid  fire,  for  soon 
the  whole  space  between  earth  and  heaven 
was  ablaze  with  celestial  rockets.  Nearer  and 
nearer,   faster  and  faster,   like   the  feet  of   a 


THROUGH  CHEROKEE  LANDS.     67 

million  race  horses,  came  down  upon  us  this 
battery  of  electric  lire ;  the  roar  of  the  thun- 
der was  tremendous,  causing  the  train  to 
tremble  as  it  rushed  along  the  prairie.  Sud- 
denly there  was  a  flash  so  blinding  that  it 
seemed  as  if  all  the  streams  of  falling  fire  had 
blended  into  one.  The  deafening  cannonade 
that  followed  was  as  if  the  earth  was  rent  in 
tvvain.  The  storm  then  struck  the  cars. 
Every  lamp  went  out,  and  a  billow  of  water, 
Hke  that  of  a  tempestuous  sea,  rolled  over  us. 
It  found  its  way  through  cracks  and  crevices 
of  the  cars,  and  came  in  large  quantities  down 
from  the  ventilators  overhead.  For  a  few 
moments  we  were  in  a  darkness  that  could  be 
felt,  and  the  cars  sw^ayed  to  and  fro  like  a 
boat  on  tlie  boiling  ocean.  That  was  the 
heaviest  part  of  the  storm.  In  a  few  moments 
it  had  rolled  to  the  eastward,  and  in  a  few 
minutes  more  the  moon  came  out  and  painted 
the  clouds  with  a  silver}'  hue,  and  the  great 
chariot  of  fire  rolled  away  in  the  far  distance. 


XI. 


When  the  war  of  the  rebelUon  broke  out, 
the  Cherokees  were  compelled  to  fight  the 
white  man's  battles,  and  again  was  the  popu- 
lation quartered  by  death.  Terrible  is  the 
story  of  the  Cherokees'  fate  in  the  Civil  War. 
I  have  listened  to  this  tale  of  woe  from  the 
lips  of  many  a  Cherokee  man,  and  gray 
headed  Indian  women  have  told  me  of  the 
suffering  then,  and,  as  they  spoke,  their  eyes 
filled  with  tears  while  they  for  a  few  moments 
recalled  those  agonizing  hours.  I  have  al- 
ready told  you  how  in  their  first  terrible  march 
from  Georgia  and  Tennessee  in  1838,  they 
suffered  from  excessive  heat,  but  in  their 
flight  for  safety  in  1862  they  suffered  from 
most  bitter  cold.  Their  horses,  their  beds 
and  bedding  and  wearing  apparel  were  taken 
away.  In  the  battle  and  the  pursuit  which 
was  long  and  fierce  and  bloody,  horses  and 


THROUGH    CHEROKEE    LANDS.  69 

Indians  froze  to  death.  The  Confederates  on 
every  hand  murdered  and  robbed  the  loyal 
Cherokees.  And  the  Cherokees  abandoned 
every  thing  and  fled  to  the  mountains  where 
they  remained  during  the  winter,  exposed  in 
their  destitute  condition  to  all  the  inclemen- 
cies of  the  season.  The  Cherokees  first 
fought  on  the  side  of  the  South,  being  told  by 
the  Southern  Emissaries  that  the  South  was  the 
successor  of  the  United  States,  but  they  soon 
learned  their  mistake. 

Those  disloyal  Indians  under  the  influence 
of  the  Southern  Emissaries  were  organized 
into  "Blue  Lodges"  and  "Knights  of  the  Gol- 
den Circle,"  while  the  loyal  masses  by  a  spon- 
taneous movement,  organized  themselves  into 
a  loyal  league  known  as  the  "Ketoowah" 
society.  The  "Ketoowah"  societies  had  for  a 
primary  object  to  resist  encroachments  on 
native  rights,  and  to  preserve  according  to  an 
early  treaty  the  integrity  and  peace  of  the 
Cherokee  Nation,  but  it  finally  united  in  work- 
ing for  the  abolishment  of  slavery,  and  by  its 
means  a  large  majority  of  the  Cherokees  be- 
came at  length  firmly  grounded  in  their  fidelity 
to  the  United  States  Government.     And  when 


70     THROUGH  CHEROKEE  LANDS. 

one  day  the  Confederate  forces  in  revenge 
swept  through  the  Cherokee  Nation  and  left 
the  stars  and  bars,  the  flag  of  secession,  float- 
ing from  a  staff  near  the  Cherokee  capitol, 
a  Cherokee  woman,  true  to  the  Union,  tore  it 
down  and  ran  up  the  Star  Spangled  banner, 
which  never  came  down  again. 

For  many  years  the  Cherokees  were  slave- 
holders and  there  were  many  slaves  in  the 
Cherokee  Nation.  When  the  war  was  over 
and  the  remnant  of  the  Cherokee  people  re- 
turned to  their  devastated  homes,  the  Cherokee 
slaveholders  were  the  first  to  free  their  slaves, 
and  it  was  done  by  an  act  of  the  Cherokee 
Council  before  any  Southern  state  obeyed  the 
emancipation  proclamation  of  Abraham  Lin- 
coln.* 


*0n  the  2ist  of  August,  1861,  the  Cherokees, 
finding  themselves  at  the  mercy  of  the  Confederate 
forces  and  practically  left  to  their  fate  by  the  Fed- 
eral Government,  met  in  convention  at  Tahlequah 
and  resolved  to  make  a  treaty  of  peace  with  the 
Confederate  authorities  ;  but  on  February  18,  1863, 
finding  themselves  no  longer  constrained  by 
superior  force,  a  national  council  was  held  at  Cow- 
skin  Prairie,  where  the  treaty  was  denounced  as 
null  and  void,  any  office  held  by  a  disloyal  Chero- 


THROUGH  CHEROKEE  LANDS.     7 1 

But  how  sad  was  the  return  of  the  Chero- 
kees.  Their  pubHc  buildings  had  been  de- 
vastated, their  Uttle  Hbraries  were  destroyed, 
their  well  preserved  archives  and  much  of 
their  written  history  were  forever  lost.  Even 
the  sacred  silver  pipe  given  to  the  Cherokees 


kee  was  declared  vacant,  and,  more  remarkable 
still,  an  act  was  passed  abolishing  slavery  in  the 
Cherokee  Nation.  Through  the  kindness  of  the 
chief,  I  have  been  permitted  to  copy  an  act  from 
the  records  : 

AN    ACT    EMANCIPATING    THE    SLAVE   IN   THE 
CHEROKEE    NATION. 

Be  it  enacted  by  the  National  Council :  That  all 
negro  and  other  slaves  within  the  lands  of  the 
Cherokee  Nation  be  and  they  are  hereby  emanci- 
pated from  slavery,  and  any  person  or  persons  who 
may  have  been  held  in  slavery  are  hereby  declared 
to  be  forever  free . 

Be  it  further  enacted.  That  this  act  shall  go  into 
effect  on  the  twenty-fifth  (25th)  day  of  June,  1863. 
And  any  person  who,  after  the  said  25th  day  of 
June,  1863,  shall  offend  against  the  provisions  of 
this  act,  by  enslaving  or  holding  any  person  in 
slavery  within  the  limits  of  the  Cherokee  Nation, 
he  or  she  so  offending  shall,  on  conviction  thereof 
before  any  of  the  Courts  of  this  nation  having 
jurisdiction  of  the  case,  forfeit  and  pay  for  each 
offense  a  sum  not  less  than  one  thousand  ($1000) 
dollars,  or  more  than  five  thousand  ($5000)  dol- 
lars, at  the  discretion  of  the  Court, 

Two-thirds  of  said  fine  shall  be  paid  in  the  Na- 
tional  Treasury,    and   one-third  shall  be  paid,  in 


72     THROUGH  CHEROKEE  LANDS. 

by  George  Washington  was  stolen.  Schools 
and  churches  were  broken  up,  and,  said  Chief 
Ross,  "there  was  not  a  footprint  of  cattle  or 
swine  in  any  part  of  the  Cherokee  Nation." 
For  during  the  conflict  the  Cherokees  were 
robbed  by  their  enemies  of  one-fourth  of  all 
they  had  and  their  reputed  friends  did  not 
hesitate  to  take  all  the  rest. 


equal  sums,  to  the  Solicitor  and  the  sheriff  of  the 
District  in  which  the  offense  shall  have  been  com- 
mitted. And  it  is  hereby  made  the  duty  of  the 
Solicitors  of  the  several  Districts  to  see  that  this 
law  is  duly  enforced.  But  in  case  any  Solicitor 
shall  neglect  or  fail  to  discharge  his  duties  herein, 
and  shall  be  convicted  thereof,  he  shall  be  deposed 
from  his  office,  and  shall  hereafter  be  ineligible  to 
hold  any  oflSce  of  trust  or  honor  in  this  nation. 

The  Acting  Principal  Chief  is  hereby  required  to 
give  due  notice  of  this  act. 

Be  it  further  enacted.  That  all  laws  and  parts  of 
laws  conflicting  with  the  provisions  of  this  act  are 
hereby  repealed. 


\ 


CowsKiN  Prairie,  C.  N.  J      Lewis  Downing, 
Feb.  2ist,  1863.  I  Pres.  pro  tern. 

\  School  Com. 

J.  B.  Jones,  i         ^  t- 

Clerk  National  Com .  i     ^  Spring  Frog, 
Concurred  in  Council.       j    Speaker  oj  Council. 

Approved  Feb.  21st,  /S6j. 

Thos.  Pegg, 
Acting  Principal  Chief. 


XII. 

Are  Indians  human  beings  ?  They  are  in- 
tensely so.  They  have  a  love  of  home,  as 
much  as  have  we  who  call  ourselves  civilized ; 
they  love  their  kindred  just  as  we  love  ours. 
From  earliest  history  they  have  most  tenderly 
cared  for  their  orphan  children.  When  their 
wigAvam  villages  were  first  visited  by  the 
white  men,  in  the  very  center  of  their  camp 
could  always  be  found  a  principal  wigwam  in 
which  the  old  dames  of  the  Cherokee  people 
tenderly  cared  for  the  little  orphans.  The 
Cherokees  have  no  wigwams  today,  but  cabins 
and  some  elegant  residences.  Their  orphan 
children  are  no  longer  cared  for  in  a  center 
wigwam,  but  they  have  an  elegant  orphan 
asylum,  where  the  fatherless  of  the  Cherokees 
get  a  liberal  education.  They  have  a  fine 
insane  asylum,  a  prison,  and  a  council  house 
that  cost  them  at  least  $22,000.     There  are 


74     THROUGH  CHEROKEE  LAXDS. 

Masonic  Lodges  in  the  Cherokee  lands,  and  I 
was  informed  that  the  Cherokees  made  excel- 
lent members. 

As  the  multiplicity  of  scenes  of  Indian 
travel  pass  before  me  in  panoramic  array 
there  are  some  reminiscent  only  in  name  for 
their  memory  is  constant — a  haunt  if  vou 
choose  so  to  call  it.  I  see  them  in  the  morn- 
ing sunshine,  I  see  them  as  the  sun  shines  at 
the  zenith,  or  in  the  golden  twilight  hour,  or 
in  my  dreams  in  the  blackness  of  the  night.  I 
see  so  often  those  lonely  graves  on  the 
prairies,  where  some  white  man  or  white 
woman  seekmg  homes  in  the  far  West  had 
buried  by  the  wayside,  some  father,  mother, 
husband,  wife  or  child,  and  gone  on  leaving 
these  graves — but  not  without  anguish,  to  the 
care  only  of  the  great  black  winged  vultures, 
which  seemed  to  me  too  often  to  be  the  only 
official  sextons  in  that  western  wilderness. 

But  friends,  there  were  four  thousand  of 
these  lonely  graves  made  by  the  wayside,  or 
by  pathless  trails,  just  sixty  years  ago.  due  to 
white  men's  injustice  to  the  Indians.  And 
the  survivors,  being  human,  mourned  their 
dead  with  as  keen  an  anguish  as  if  they  too 


THROUGH  CHEROKEE  LANDS.     75 

were  white  men.  The  lonely  graves  in  the 
wilderness !  I  came  across  one  miles  away 
from  human  habitations, — new  it  was — it  had 
been  hollowed  out  only  by  some  near  friend, 
who  had  erected  upon  it  a  cross  of  rude  sticks 
and  twined  about  it  a  wreath  of  prairie  grass, 
and  then  gone  on  leaving  this  mound  behind 
him.  *Last  year,  my  friends,  I  took  you  to 
the  grave  of  Samuel  A.  Worcester  and  pointed 
out  the  tree  that  had  grown  from  his  grave, 
and  which  had  taken  unto  itself  all  that  was 
mortal  of  that  good  old  missionary.  I 
pointed  out  a  tree  that  had  taken  the  form  of  a 
hand,  the  index  finger  of  which  seemed  to  be 
pointing  heavenward.  But,  ladies,  I  was  not 
unmindful  that  there  were  other  lonely  graves 
in  the  wilderness, — graves  not  of  men,  but  of 
women,  brave,  true-hearted  women,  who  years 
ago  had  homes  in  the  East,  beautiful  and  as 
full  of  comforts  as  our  own  homes  are  today. 
They  were  surrounded  by  kindred  and  friends, 
but  yet  they  left  these  homes,  kindred  and  all, 
and  went  into  the  pathless  wilderness  to  carry 
the  Gospel  to  the  redmen  :  and  faithfully  they 


*See  Cherokee  Bible  page  32. 


76     THROUGH  CHEROKEE  LANDS. 

labored ;  cheerfully    they    bore    deprivations  ; 
and  finally  died   in   the  wilderness,  but  with 
the   blessed    assurance   that   their  labor  had 
been  abundantly  blessed.     My  friends,  when 
we  feel  it  a  hardship  to  drop  a  penny  or   a 
nickel   into  the   contribution   box  to  aid  the 
missionaries,  let  us  stop  and   rest   a   minute  ; 
yes,  two  minutes  if  it  is  necessary,  and  think 
of  these  lonely  graves  and  what  the  life  record 
of  those  who  lie  buried  there  mean  to  us   and 
to  civilization.     I  was  glad  to  see  that  those 
graves  of  noble  Christian  missionaries  though 
uncared  for  by  human  hand,  yet   were  cared 
for  by  the  hand  of  Nature.     Some  little  birds 
perhaps  or  some  autumnal  zephyr   had  scat- 
tered the  seeds  of  the  wild  white   star  flowers 
that  there  were  blooming.     I  was  so   glad  to 
see  the  white  star  flower  blooming  there  for  it 
seemed  so  synonymous  of  the  pure  lives  of 
those  that  had  been  there  laid  to  rest.     Yes,  I 
was  glad  that  they  were  the  white  star  flowers 
— for  it  has  been  said  the  stars  of  heaven  are 
as  the  flowers  of  earth, — but  it  seemed  to  me 
that  those  flowers  of  earth,  those  faithful  mis- 
sionary  women,  had   become   as   it  were   the 
Brightest  Stars  of  Heaven. 


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